Sherry Coutu

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 1964) is a serial entrepreneur, former CEO,

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owner ...

and non-executive director based in Cambridge, UK and originally from Canada.

Career

Coutu graduated from University of British Columbia, with a first class honours BA, in 1986, with distinction from the London School of Economics, with an MSc, in Economics, and from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

, with an MBA, in 1993. As an entrepreneur, Sherry founded interactive investor international in 1994. She ran it until 2000 when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange and she stepped down when it was acquired by AMP in 2001. She became an

in 2000 and since then has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and specialised in consumer internet, information services and education. She has made angel investments in more than 50 companies and holds investments in five venture capital firms. In November 2014, Coutu authored the "Scale-Up Report" which was commissioned by the Digital Economy Council. The report urged the UK government to support ' scaleups' and not only '

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

'. In June 2015, partnering with

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

, the co-founder of LinkedIn, Coutu launched the Scale Up Institute, a non-profit body to support UK businesses wishing to scale up. Support for businesses will include help in improving leadership skills, accessing a network of advisers and raising finance. In early July 2015 it was reported and later confirmed by Coutu that she would be curtailing her angel investing activities in favour of investing philanthropically in charitable endeavours in the future via Founders4Schools, a charity to improve the employability of young people. In 2017, Founders4Schools launched their work experience service for 16- to 24-year-olds, Workfinder. Workfinder is a TripAdvisor-style app to easily connect young people with fast-growing companies across the UK.

Positions

Coutu is the Chairman of Founders4Schools, Workfinde
The ScaleUp Institute
and Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd. She also serves as a non-executive board member of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The London Stock Exchange plc and Pearson plc. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Royal Society. Past positions include serving on the Advisory Boards of LinkedIn, the University of Cambridge (Finance Board) and the Natural History Museum. In February 2020, Coutu was announced as the incoming David Goldman Visiting Professor of Innovation and Enterprise at Newcastle University.

Accolades

Coutu was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrat ...

for her services to entrepreneurship. In 2019, she was inducted into the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) Hall of Fame and was the winner of the Veuve Clicquot Social Purpose Award. She was named ''Most Influential Woman in UK IT 2017, Barclay's Entrepreneur of the Year 2017, Top 50 inspiring women in Europe'' by the

Management Today Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously on ...

and ''Top Entrepreneur contributing to 'Queen and Country by

Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...

. In July 2015

Computer Weekly ''Computer Weekly'' is a digital magazine and website for IT professionals in the United Kingdom. It was formerly published as a weekly print magazine by Reed Business Information for over 45 years. Topics covered within the magazine include outs ...

named Coutu in the top ten most influential women in UK IT industry. In the same year she was ranked 29 on

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

's ''The 2015 WIRED 100''.

Philanthropy

Coutu supports Founders4Schools, Prince's Trust,

Crick Institute The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Impe ...

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

and serves on the

European Advisory Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutu, Sherry Alumni of the London School of Economics Angel investors Harvard Business School alumni Living people University of British Columbia alumni 1964 births Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Canadian emigrants to England