Jayne-Anne Gadhia

Gadhia was born in Stourbridge,[1] West Midlands, and educated at Culford School, Bury St Edmunds, followed by Royal Holloway, University of London where she graduated with a BA in History.

From 1982 Gadhia trained in accountancy with Ernst & Young. After becoming a Chartered Accountant, she spent six years at Norwich Union (now Aviva) before becoming one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. Three years later, she set up the Virgin One account, which was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001. After five years at RBS she returned to Virgin as CEO of Virgin Money in 2007 until its sale in 2018.[2]

In 2015, the Government asked Gadhia to lead a review into the representation of women in senior managerial roles in financial services. Empowering Productivity: Harnessing the talents of women in financial services was published in March 2016.[3] In response to the recommendations in that review, HM Treasury launched the Women in Finance Charter. There are now over 330 firms of all shapes and sizes across financial services signed up to the commitments of the Charter – from global banks to credit unions, the largest insurance companies to the smallest fintech start-ups – with headquarters in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.

Gadhia is a trustee of Business in the Community and the Tate Gallery.[4]

Gadhia is an advocate for gender diversity in business.[5] In November 2016, she was appointed as the UK Government’s Women in Finance Champion, and in July 2017 she became a founder member of its Business Diversity and Inclusion Group.

She has also been open about her experiences of depression, and believes that better work-life balance can improve work performance.[6]

In 2018 Gadhia was named Leader of the Year at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards. She was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[7]

She was awarded a CBE in the 2014 New Year Honours [8] and made a Dame in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list.