Ann Cochrane Cook Wallace Budge (born 21 February 1948) is a Scottish businesswoman and company director.

Career

Budge graduated with a psychology degree, and became the first woman appointed to a senior position in

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

after starting her career there as a trainee programmer. After leaving F International – now

Xansa Xansa plc, trading as Xansa, was a British outsourcing and technology company, and was quoted on the London Stock Exchange until 17 October 2007 when the purchase of Xansa by Steria was completed and the company was delisted. Its headquarters w ...

– Budge set up business working from home, and teaming up with Allison Newell in 1985, launched Newell & Budge, which specialised in making bespoke software and IT systems. It was sold to the French IT company

Sopra Group Sopra Steria is a European-based consulting, digital services, and software development company with 50,000 consultants. The company is headquartered in Paris and has operations in several countries in Western Europe. Sopra Steria has a new c ...

for a reported £30 million, and Budge became a chief executive.

Recognition

Budge was awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Entrepreneurial Exchange in 2005 and was then inducted into the Entrepreneurial Exchange Hall of Fame in November 2013. She is listed as a role model by the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

. She is an honorary graduate of

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

and

Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

Football

Budge was disclosed as being the sole director of BIDCO 1874, a consortium trying to buy Edinburgh-based

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club Hearts out of

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, in early 2014. A majority shareholding in the club, which was previously owned by Lithuanian businesses run by

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf; ; born 15 June 1947)

, was sold to BIDCO 1874 in May 2014. Budge made several changes at the club immediately after taking control, including the appointment of

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone. During his playing c ...

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

and

Robbie Neilson Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of USL Championship club Tampa Bay Rowdies. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

. In 2016, Budge was awarded the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

CEO of the Year award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budge, Ann 1948 births Living people British women business executives Place of birth missing (living people) Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Heart of Midlothian F.C. directors and chairmen