Katherine Garrett-Cox at World Economic Forum

Katherine Lucy Garrett-Cox

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born November 1967) is a British business executive. She is the managing director and CEO of the UK subsidiary for the Gulf International Bank of Bahrain. She was previously CEO of

Alliance Trust Alliance Trust plc is a publicly traded investment and financial services company, established in 1888 and headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It is one of the ...

, a

FTSE 250 The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

publicly traded investment and financial services company, headquartered in Dundee, Scotland.

Early life

Katherine Lucy Garrett-Cox was born in November 1967. She was educated at St Mary's School, Ascot and studied History at Durham University ( St Mary's College), graduating with a BA degree in 1989.

Career

Garrett-Cox joined Alliance Trust as chief investment officer in 2007, becoming CEO on 29 August 2008. Prior to Alliance Trust PLC, Katherine served as chief investment officer and executive director of Morley Fund Management, now Aviva Investors, and prior to that, as chief investment officer of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC. In October 2015, a row with activist investors Elliott Advisors resulted in Garrett-Cox stepping down from the Alliance Trust board. The activist investors argued that the company's performance had been poor and that changes to the board were necessary. This row was slightly offset in April 2015 when Alliance agreed to appoint two of the three board member candidates recommended by Elliott, however ultimately, an agreement was in place to review the board situation in Autumn 2015. Garrett-Cox still occupies the position of chief executive at Alliance, and this move puts her back in a fund management role rather than a role running the wider business. Garrett-Cox also serves as a member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank AG. She served as a member of the UK Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group from 2012-15 and the Scottish Business Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Scotland during the same period.

Personal life

Garrett-Cox's husband Jeremy is Scottish, and they have four children together: Cosmo, Alec, Millie and Cora. They live in rural Angus.

Honours and awards

In 2014, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), "For services to the Asset Management Industry and charitable service through the Baring Foundation."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett-Cox, Katherine 1967 births Living people British chief executives Alumni of St Mary's College, Durham Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British women chief executives People educated at St Mary's School, Ascot