Susan Jean Elisabeth "Zanny" Minton Beddoes (born July 1967) is a British journalist. She is the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', the first woman to hold the position. She began working for the magazine in 1994 as its

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

correspondent.

Education and early life

Born in Shropshire, Minton Beddoes was educated at

Moreton Hall School Moreton Hall is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 6 months to 18 and boys aged 6 months to 13, situated in North Shropshire four miles from the market town of Oswestry. Founded in 1913, Moreton Hall celebrated its centenary ...

near

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

, received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) as an undergraduate student of

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...

. She earned a master's degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as a

Kennedy Scholar Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the schol ...

from 1989-1990, and had the scholarship fully renewed for an additional year.

Career

After graduation, she was recruited as an adviser to the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in Poland, in 1992, as part of a small group headed by Professor

Jeffrey Sachs Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...

of Harvard. She then spent two years as an economist at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

(IMF), where she worked on

macroeconomic Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

adjustment programmes in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

transition economies A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Transition economies undergo a set of structural transformations intended to develop market-based institutions. T ...

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe. ...

. Through this work, she joined ''The Economist'' in 1994 as the newspaper's correspondent for

, based in London. She became the Economics editor in 1996, overseeing global economics coverage from Washington DC, and later moved to Business Affairs editor, responsible for business, finance and science. She began as the 17th and first female editor-in-chief on 2 February 2015. Secured by her appointment to the top editor position at ''The Economist'', Minton Beddoes was described by the 2015 edition of '' Debrett's 500'' as "one of the most influential voices in financial journalism". She has written surveys of the world economy, Latin American finance, global finance and Central Asia. She has written extensively about the American economy and international financial policy; the enlargement of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

; the future of the IMF; and economic reform in

emerging economies An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

. She has been published in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'' and ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', contributed chapters to several conference volumes, and edited ''Emerging Asia'' (Asian Development Bank, 1997), a book on the future of emerging-markets in Asia. In May 1998, she provided expert testimony on the introduction of the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

to the

United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade The United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy is a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services. It was formerly part of the United States House Financial Se ...

, a subcommittee of the

House Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...

. In 2010, Minton Beddoes spoke at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with

Peter Orszag Peter Richard Orszag (born December 16, 1968) is the CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard. Before June 2019, he was the firm's Head of North American M&A and Global Co-Head of Healthcare. Orszag previously served as a Vice Chairman of Corporate ...

Director of the Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, poli ...

, and Professor

Alan Blinder Alan Stuart Blinder (, born October 14, 1945) is an American economics professor at Princeton University and is listed among the most influential economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc. He is a leading macroeconomist, politically liberal ...

, Chair of the Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton. Their discussion was called "How Did We Get Into this Mortgage Mess, and How Do We Get Out?" In 2012, she gave the 28th Annual

Max Rosenn Max Rosenn (February 4, 1910 – February 7, 2006) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Education and career Born to a Jewish family in Plains, Pennsylvania, Rosenn received a Bachelor of ...

Lecture on "Stress-Testing America's Prosperity". Minton Beddoes is a regular commentator on ''

Marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

'' and other public radio programmes. She has also appeared on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...

'', ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

'',

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and ''

Real Time with Bill Maher ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series ''Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy Central and later on ABC, ''Real Ti ...

''. She is a trustee of the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...

and a member of the Research Advisory Board of the Committee for Economic Development. In 2015, Minton Beddoes was one of 133 invitees to the 63rd Bilderberg conference, an invitation-only meeting of top business leaders, politicians, academics and royalty, for an informal and secret discussion of world issues.

Awards

* 2012

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Award, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was estab ...

for Commentary * 2017 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News

Personal life

Minton Beddoes, the eldest daughter of a former British army officer and his German-born wife, was born Susan Jean Elisabeth, and later acquired the nickname Zanny. She is married to British-born journalist and author

Sebastian Mallaby Sebastian Christopher Peter Mallaby (born May 1964) is an English journalist and author, Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and contributing columnist at ''The Washington Post''. ...

. They have four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minton Beddoes, Zanny 1967 births Living people People educated at Moreton Hall School Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Harvard University alumni Kennedy Scholarships British business and financial journalists British women journalists British development economists International finance economists The Economist editors Mallaby family Women business and financial journalists Gerald Loeb Award winners for Columns, Commentary, and Editorials Gerald Loeb Award winners for Breaking News