Dame Anne Helen Richards (born 1964) is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Fidelity International Fidelity International Ltd, or FIL for short, is a company that provides investment management services including mutual funds, pension management and fund platforms to private and institutional investors. Fidelity International was originally es ...

. Previously, she served as

chief investment officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...

Aberdeen Asset Management Aberdeen Asset Management was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the Lon ...

and

M&G Investments M&G plc is a global investment manager headquartered in the City of London. Since its de-merger from Prudential plc, it has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Pre-2000 Municipal & Gen ...

Early career

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born, she was educated at the

Royal High School, Edinburgh The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school, school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four ...

. Richards began her career with a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

ship at CERN, after graduating from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

with a First-Class Honours degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering. She subsequently worked for

Cambridge Consultants Cambridge Consultants, part of Capgemini Invent, develops breakthrough products and services, creates and licenses intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology-critical issues for clients worldwide. The company has offic ...

, before pursuing further studies in France at

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East ( Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (Sa ...

graduating as

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

City career

Richards worked initially as an analyst with Alliance Capital, before moving to

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...

, working in portfolio management, and then moving on to

Mercury Asset Management Mercury Asset Management plc was a leading British investment management business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The Company was established in 1969 when S. G. Warburg & Co., the ...

, and later MLIM. In 2002 she took up the post of Chief Investment Officer and Joint Managing Director of Edinburgh Fund Managers plc. When EFM was taken over by Aberdeen Asset Management in 2003, Richards continued in her role as Chief Investment Officer. It was announced in February 2016 that she would be taking over from Michael McLintock as chief executive of

from June 2016. In July 2018, it was announced that she would leave M&G Investments, following the merger to become M&G Prudential (and subsequent demerger from Prudential UK), to join

as chief executive officer. In 2021, Richards led development of a range of flexible working options at Fidelity International, following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Non-executive positions

Richards was Vice-Convener of the Court of the

and is a former director of both the Esure Group plc and the

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and ...

. She is a member of the US-based Board of Leaders of 2020 Women on Boards, which works to increasing the proportion of women on corporate boards. Richards chaired the CERN and Society Foundation Board from 2015 to at least 2019. Star Knight Commander of the British Empire

Star Knight Commander of the British Empire

Fellowships and honours

Dame Anne is a

Chartered Engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thro ...

(CEng) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (FCSI), and in March 2016 she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This s ...

(FRSE), Scotland's national academy for science and letters. Medal, order (AM 2001

Appointed

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, ...

(CVO) in 2014,

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 2015, she was promoted to

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for "services to financial services, women, education and science".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Anne 1964 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh INSEAD alumni Electronics engineers Women chief executives Chief investment officers Prudential plc Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire