Karren Brady
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| Karren Brady | |
 (photo 2008)
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| Born | April 1969 |
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| Known for | Managing director of Birmingham City F.C., award winning business woman. |
| Spouse | Paul Peschisolido |
| Children | 2 |
| Website http://www.karrenbrady.com |
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Karren Brady (born April 1969) is a British broadcasting and sport business manager.
She is best known for being the managing director of Birmingham City Football Club. She was appointed in March 1993,[1] when only 23 years old, and in 2002 became the first woman to hold such a post in the top flight of English football. She was responsible for its flotation in 1997, thus becoming the youngest managing director of a UK plc.
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[edit] Early life
Brady was brought up in Edmonton, London, and the family house was near to the Tottenham Hotspur football ground.[2] She has an elder brother, and described her father as a printer and property developer.[2] Brady's parents sent her to Poles Convent, a private boarding school in Hertfordshire, at 13.[2] From age 16 to 18 years old she attended Aldenham School, Elstree, a boys' public school, and she has claimed that being the only girl pupil at the school helped her confidence and independence.[2]
[edit] Career
Directly after leaving school she worked for LBC, but soon moved to Saatchi & Saatchi, where she enjoyed her work on a schedule that was normally for graduates.[2] She managed an account for radio advertising with several clients, who initially did not spend much money; however, one of the clients, David Sullivan, encouraged by Brady, spent more than £2,000,000 on advertising in just 8 months, which earned Brady more commission than the rest of the sales team put together.[2] Sullivan offered her a job with his firm, Sport Newspapers, and she became one of the directors at the age of 22 years. Brady explained that the 'adult' nature of many of Sullivan's publications was of no concern to her, saying that they were, "...just different kinds of publications within one house." While in Sullivan's employ, Brady spotted an advert for the sale of Birmingham City F. C. in the Financial Times, when the club was in receivership,[3] and persuaded Sullivan to buy it and let her run it. Sullivan later commented that he agreed to the deal because such a young, female director would attract publicity to the club, and also because Brady was a "Sacker".[2] Brady was 23 years of age when she started work as the Managing Director of Birmingham City F. C. in March 1993.[1][2]
She is also chairman of Emap's Kerrang! magazine, has a seat on the board of Sport England, and is a non-executive director of Mothercare and Channel 4 television.[4]
[edit] Fraud investigation
In April 2008, Brady and Sullivan were released on bail shortly after being arrested by City of London Police and questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, in connection with an ongoing investigation of alleged corruption in English football.[5][4] As of April 10, no charges had been brought[6]. Trading of Birmingham City shares, on the London Stock Exchange, was suspended at the club's request.[7].
[edit] Personal life
In 1995 Brady married Canadian footballer, Paul Peschisolido, who played for Birmingham City for two seasons, 1992-93 and 1993-94. About one year later, she had her first child, Sophia, and she went back to work three days after the birth, although she felt very exhausted at times.[2] She had about six weeks off work after the birth of her second child, a boy – Paolo.[2]
Brady had a whole body scan as part of a medical screen and a cerebral aneurysm was found unexpectedly, which had the potential to cause dangerous intercranial bleeding at any time.[2] On February 3, 2006, at the age of 36, at very short notice, she underwent neurosurgery, and she was back at work about one month later, fully recovered.[2][8]
[edit] Trivia
- Despite being a long-serving director of Birmingham City, Karren is actually an Arsenal supporter.
- Karren wants to be an owner of a football club as opposed to a Managing Director and it is believed that Oxford United will be the team to give her that challenge.
- Brady appeared as a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in March 2007, in order to raise money for Comic Relief. And in June 2008, was a guest interviewer in series four of The Apprentice – interviewing the final five.
[edit] Awards
- In 1995, she was voted the 98th sexiest woman in the world by the readers of FHM magazine.
- In 2006 Brady was Cosmopolitan magazine's Woman of the Year, the mother of two from Solihull, England was also named in the category of 'Woman Who Has Changed The World'.
- Brady was named as Business Woman of the Year 2007 on 5 October 2007.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sullivan takes control. The Times (1993-03-06). Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Desert Island Discs with Karren Brady". Desert Island Discs. BBC. Radio 4. 2007-12-29.
- ^ Goodbody, John. "Receivers put football club up for sale", The Times, 1992-11-07. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ a b "Brady and Sullivan arrested", Press Association, 2008-04-09. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ "Blues bosses arrested by police", BBC News, 2008-04-09. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- ^ Jeremy Wilson. "Karen Brady and David Sullivan arrested", The Daily Telegraph, 2008-04-10. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ "Birmingham City Shares Suspended", BBC News, 2008-04-10. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ Football MD out of intensive care. BBC News (2006-02-05). Retrieved on 13 April 2008.
