Ann Cochrane Cook Wallace Budge (born 21 February 1948) is a Scottish businesswoman and company director.

Career

Budge graduated with a psychology degree, and became the first woman appointed to a senior position in

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

after starting her career there as a trainee programmer. After leaving F International - now

Xansa Xansa plc, trading as Xansa, was a British outsourcing and technology company, and was quoted on the London Stock Exchange until 17 October 2007 when the purchase of Xansa by Steria was completed and the company was delisted. Its headquarter ...

- Budge set up business working from home, and teaming up with Allison Newell in 1985, launched Newell & Budge, which specialised in making bespoke software and IT systems. It was sold to the French IT company

Sopra Group Sopra Steria is a Paris-based consulting, digital services, and software development company. Sopra Steria has a new consulting wing under the “Next” brand. It employs 3,400 consultants across Europe, including 1,900 in the group’s native ...

, for a reported £30 million, and Budge became a chief executive.

Recognition

Budge was awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Entrepreneurial Exchange in 2005 and was then inducted into the Entrepreneurial Exchange Hall of Fame in November 2013. She is listed as a role model by the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

. She is an Honorary Graduate of

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

and

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

Football

Budge was disclosed as being the sole director of BIDCO 1874, a consortium trying to buy Edinburgh-based

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Hearts out of

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

, in early 2014. A majority shareholding in the club, which was previously owned by Lithuanian businesses run by

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

, was sold to BIDCO 1874 in May 2014. Budge made several changes at the club immediately after taking control, including the appointment of

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing career ...

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

and

Robbie Neilson Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. In 2016, Budge was awarded the SPFL CEO of the Year award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budge, Ann 1948 births Living people British women business executives Place of birth missing (living people) Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Heart of Midlothian F.C. directors and chairmen