‘The First Lady of Football’, Karren Brady’s net worth is estimated to be £85 million.
Born on April 4, 1969 in Edmonton, London, Karren Brady kick-started her career at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi as a trainee, after which she became an advertising executive for the London Broadcasting Company (LBC). David Sullivan, one of her businessman dad’s biggest clients, shelled out over £2,000,000 of advertising money in just six months, on condition that the account be managed by her alone.
At such a young age, what did Brady take on thereafter that made her a multimillionaire?
Later, Sullivan offered her a role at Sport Newspapers, where the 20-year-old Brady was made a director. Spotting Birmingham City FC’s ‘for sale’ ad, she convinced Sullivan to buy it and allow her to manage its affairs. In March 1993, Birmingham was bought for £700,000 and its newly appointed Managing Director Brady brought the near bankrupt club back on its feet – aged just 23.
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In 1997, the club was floated on the London Stock Exchange, making Brady the youngest managing director of a British PLC. She became the first ever female managing director in the Premier League when Birmingham team was promoted in 2002.
When Sullivan and David Gold – Birmingham’s chairmen – successfully sold the club for around £82 million in 2009, Brady left and was soon appointed to the England 2018 World Cup bid advisory board as a non-executive director.
Sullivan and Gold, becoming joint chairmen of West Ham United, brought on Brady as vice-chairman in 2010. There too, she forged ‘The Hammers’ into a profitable club within a year.
Brady’s additional career achievements include a former position as chairman of Kerrang!, acting as board member for Sport England, a Channel 4 non-executive director and working with Simon Cowell’s company, Syco. After seven years on the board of Mothercare she jumped on board Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia in September 2010.
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Brady raised over £750,000 for Comic Relief in 2007, appearing as captain of the female team on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. She went on to assist Lord Sugar in series six in August 2009. She continues to take part in the reality television series and has won two National Reality TV Awards for her role.
An accomplished motivational speaker, in 2013 Brady was appointed by David Cameron as the government’s Small Business Ambassador.
In the 2014 New Year Honours, in view of her services to women in business and entrepreneurship, Brady was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
In September 2014, she ventured further into the world of politics when she was honoured with a seat as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords and dubbed Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge in the City of Westminster.
Brady owns a holiday home in Canada as well as a property in London with her husband, Canadian footballer Paul Peschisolido.
In 2012, Brady reportedly bought a second-hand Bentley Continental for $99,000.
Brady was 2012’s fcbusiness Magazine CEO of the Year, and was also named tenth in The Guardian’s 50 most influential women in British sport in March 2014.
She serves on the Department for Culture Media & Sport’s WISAB (Women in Sport Advisory Board) and is the chairman at Mentore, a firm developing female talent in organisations.
