Zillah Byng-Thorne (, born 1974/1975) is a British businesswoman, and the CEO of

Future plc Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

, a FTSE 250 Index British media company, since April 2014. She was described by The Guardian in September 2022 as "one of the UK’s most successful media executives."

Early life

She grew up near Glasgow, and earned a MA in management from

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and a MSc in behavioural change from

Henley Business School Henley Business School is a business school which now forms part of the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College (formerly the Administrative Staff College) with the existing business ...

Career

Byng-Thorne qualified as an accountant with Nestlé UK. She later had senior finance roles with

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018. ...

and

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

, before becoming CFO of Threshers, then finance director of

Fitness First Fitness First is an international fitness centre brand founded in 1993 in the United Kingdom. The company owned and operated its clubs around the world until financial pressures saw parts of the company sold off to various owners in different re ...

. She was previously CFO of

Auto Trader Group Auto Trader Group plc is a British automotive classified advertising business. It specialises in new and second hand automotive sales, including cars sold by private sellers and trade dealers. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a ...

. Byng-Thorne joined Future in November 2013 as a part-time chief financial officer (CFO), and became CEO in April 2014. In 2021, she earned £8.8 million as chief executive, which included a salary of £575,000, a bonus of £1.15 million and £7.03 million through a performance share plan. She is a non-executive director of Mecom and

Betfair Betfair is a British gambling company which operates the world's largest online betting exchange. Its product offering also includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Founded in 2000, the business is split int ...

. She was the senior independent non-executive director of online retailer THG until stepping down in September 2022, at the same time as she was appointed as deputy chairman of online reviews site

Trustpilot Trustpilot Group plc, is a Danish consumer business operating a review website founded in Denmark in 2007 which hosts reviews of businesses worldwide. Nearly 1 million new reviews are posted each month. The site offers freemium services to busine ...

Personal life

She is married to Max Thorne. She has three sons and two stepsons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byng-Thorne, Zillah Living people British women chief executives 1970s births Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Reading Chief financial officers British accountants