Belinda Earl (born 20 December 1961) is businesswoman and current chief executive of Jaeger clothing line.[1] She was born in Plymouth and attended St Dunstan's Abbey School for Girls. She started working as a Saturday girl in the menswear department of her local Debenhams[1] at the age of 16 before managing a gift shop and moving on to study economics and business at Aberystwyth University.
After graduating in 1983 she turned down an offer to join a firm of accountants to pursue her love of retail and fashion by working as a graduate trainee in the womenswear department of Harrods. In 1985 she left Harrods to become a menswear merchandiser at Debenhams. She took on a number of increasingly senior positions within Debenhams before being appointed a company director in 1991. She was appointed trading director in 1997 before eventually joining the board in 1999.
Earl challenged the traditional treatment of women in senior management. by taking maternity leave in 1997 to have her first child. After returning to work, Belinda became instrumental in persuading recognised designers such as Jasper Conran to create exclusive ranges for the department store.
After her mentor Terry Green resigned in December 2000 she became Chief Executive at Debenhams.[2] During her administration the company did well despite an unfavourable economic climate.[3] She become the first chief executive of a listed company to take maternity leave with the birth of her second son in 2001. Her six weeks' absence made headlines as it was considered to be a long time for a chief executive to take off work.
Earl left Debenhams in 2003. Her failure to secure a buyout of Debenhams thorough Permira (Debenhams was eventually bought for £1.7 billion by a rival private consortium) prompted her departure with a £3.6 million payoff (which rose to £4million once her shares had been cashed in).[4]
Harold Tillman, a retail entrepreneur, had bought Jaeger in 2002 and had inherited a brand in decline. Earl was initially approached in 2004[1] and was eventually persuaded to become Chief Executive with a 20% stake in the company (with Tillman retaining the majority 70% share).
Earl lives near Oxted in Surrey with her husband David, a lawyer, and two sons, Ben and James. She is a patron of Skillsmart, a retail-sector skills council, a fellow of the City & Guilds Institute and of the University of Wales.