Marjorie Scardino

Marjorie Scardino
Marjorie Scardino at Financial Times 125th Anniversary Party, London, in June 2013
Born Marjorie Morris
(1947-01-25) 25 January 1947
Arizona[1]
Residence London
Nationality American
Citizenship British
Alma mater Baylor University
Occupation Chief executive
Employer Pearson PLC
Spouse(s) Albert Scardino

Marjorie Morris Scardino, DBE, FRSA (born 25 January 1947) is an American-born British business executive. She is the former CEO of Pearson PLC. Scardino became a trustee of Oxfam during her tenure at Pearson.[2] She has been criticized by Private Eye magazine because, while Oxfam campaigns against corporate tax avoidance as part of the IF Coalition, Pearson was "a prolific tax haven user...routing hundreds of millions of pounds through an elaborate series of Luxembourg companies (and a Luxembourg branch of a UK company) to avoid tax".[3][4][5] She became the first female Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed CEO of Pearson[6] in 1997. She is also a non-executive director of Nokia and former CEO of the Economist Group.[7][8] During her time at Pearson, Pearson's profits tripled, to a record £942m.[9] In December 2013, she joined the board of Twitter as its first female director, after a controversy involving a lack of diversity on the Twitter board.[10][11]

Early life and education

Scardino was born in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1947, and grew up in Texarkana, Texas. While living in Texas she participated in rodeo riding as a teenager.[12] Scardino is a graduate of Baylor University with a BA in French and psychology in 1969. She began law school at George Washington University but dropped out to become a journalist at Associated Press in Charleston, West Virginia, and later obtained her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.[13]

Career

Before 1985, Scardino was the editor of the newspaper, The Georgia Gazette.

She is the board chair[14] of the MacArthur Foundation and a board member of the Carter Center.[15] She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.[13] She also won the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal.[16]

In 2007, she was listed 17th on the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women in the World.[17]

On October 3, 2012, it was announced that she will step down as CEO of Pearson to be replaced by John Fallon.[18][19]

In December 2013, she joined the board of Twitter [10] as its first female director, after a controversy involving a lack of diversity on the Twitter board.[11]

Personal life

Scardino is married to Albert Scardino,[8] whom she worked with during her time at The Georgia Gazette and later a media reporter for The New York Times. Her son is actor Hal Scardino.

Although she was born in the United States, she has taken British citizenship.[20]

Awards and honors

Scardino received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2001 [21]

In 2014, Scardino received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Roehampton.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Doward, Jamie (9 March 2003). "Can Marje stay in charge?". The Observer. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Oxfam's CEO, Directors and Trustees | Oxfam GB". Oxfam GB. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  3. ↑ "The IF Coalition | Enough Food IF". 2014-09-12. Archived from the original on 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  4. ↑ "INVISIBLE MONEY 2: VOYAGE TO LUXEMBOURG - Ground Report". groundreport.com. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  5. ↑ P5, no 1374, 5–18 September 2014, Private Eye
  6. ↑ BBC female achievements timeline
  7. ↑ "Board of Directors". Nokia. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  8. 1 2 Colby, Laura (16 March 1998). "Yankee Expansionist Builds British Empire". Fortune. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  9. ↑ "BBC News - Pearson: Marjorie Scardino steps down as chief executive". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Thank you". Twitter. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  11. 1 2 "Curtain Is Rising on a Tech Premiere With (as Usual) a Mostly Male Cast". Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Publishing, DK (2009). 1000 CEOs. Penguin. p. 218. ISBN 978-0756670573. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  13. 1 2 Cave, Andrew (24 February 2008). "British business people: The top 1,000: Media and entertainment 20 to 1". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  14. ↑ "Marjorie Scardino Elected to Chair MacArthur Foundation Board of Directors". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  15. ↑ "Management Team - Marjorie Scardino: Chief executive". Pearson PLC. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  16. ↑ "The Benjamin Franklin Medal". Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  17. ↑ #17 Marjorie Scardino
  18. ↑ "John Fallon to succeed Marjorie Scardino as Pearson's chief executive". pearson.com. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  19. ↑ "Scardino, Chief of Pearson, to Step Down - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. New York: NYTC. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  20. ↑ "Marjorie Scardino". Businesswings. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  21. ↑ "Heriot-Watt University". www1.hw.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  22. ↑ "Twitter director Marjorie Scardino awarded honorary doctorate". University of Roehampton. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
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