Angela Ahrendts

Angela Ahrendts
Angela Ahrendts
Born	June 1960; New Palestine, Indiana, USA
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Ball State University
Occupation	CEO of Burberry
Website	Burberry

Angela Ahrendts is an American businesswoman and CEO of Burberry, a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories.

Early life

Angela grew up in New Palestine, Indiana. She attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where she graduated in 1981 with a Bachelors Degree in Marketing and Merchandising. The day after graduating she moved to New York City.

Executive positions

Angela Ahrendts joined Burberry in January 2006, and took up the position of CEO on July 1, 2006.

In 2008 Angela, alongside Burberry Creative Director Christopher Bailey, set up The Burberry Foundation, committed to dedicating global resources to help young people realise their dreams and achieve their goals and potential through their power and creativity. The Burberry Foundation invests in select charities focused on supporting young people in the key cities in regions where the majority of Burberry employees live and work, and where they are able to participate in volunteer roles with Burberry charity partners on the ground.

Prior to her appointment at Burberry, Angela was Executive Vice President at Liz Claiborne Inc., one of the leading apparel companies in the United States. During her tenure, she was responsible for womenswear and menswear brands with combined annual sales of approximately 40% of total company revenues. She also led a number of new product and category launches and was responsible for a series of international growth and innovative supply chain initiatives for a number of key brands. Angela joined the executive team of Liz Claiborne Inc. in 1998, which diversified the corporation from 10 to 41 brands.

Before joining Liz Claiborne Inc. Angela was Executive Vice President of Henri Bendel and spent six years, from 1989 to 1996 as President of Donna Karan International where she was responsible for Donna Karan Collection, Donna Karan Signature, Donna Karan International and Donna Karan Licensing.

Burberry, which is headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in 1856.

Rankings

Angela was on Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women 2 years in a row. She was number 76 in 2006 and number 67 in 2007. She also made the Fortune Magazines International Power 50 as number 18 in 2007 and number 27 in 2008.