Kathryn Elizabeth Swann (born 1964) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

retailer who served as chancellor of Bradford University From April 2015 To May 2019.

Early life

Born in

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, Swan
graduated
from the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

in 1986 with a BSc in Business Management. She was ranked number 21 in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' Women in Business, Europe's top 25, in 2006. She received an honorary doctorate from the

in July 2007.

Career

Swann was made

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of food & beverage operator SSP Group in September 2013, having been CEO of

WH Smith WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service st ...

since November 2003. She previously held positions with Tesco Plc as a graduate trainee in 1989, Homepride Foods,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Schweppes Schweppes ( , ) is a soft drink brand founded in the Republic of Geneva in 1783 by the German watchmaker and amateur scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe; it is now made, bottled, and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, de ...

and

Dixons Stores Group Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe, which merged with Carphone Warehouse in 2014 to create Currys plc, Dixons Carphone, which was renamed Currys plc in 2021. In the United Kingdom, the company oper ...

. She then worked for

Homebase Homebase was a British Home improvement center, home improvement and garden centre retailer that operated across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GIB Group, GB-Inno ...

, ultimately as Managing Director, and in 2000 was made Managing Director of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

. In 2006 ''Fortune'' listed her as one of the 50 most powerful women in business. In April 2015, Swann was announced as the new chancellor of the

. The share price of SSP fell by 8% when it was announced in November 2018 that Swann is to step down from her post in May 2019.Times Kate Swann to step down as SSP chief executive
/ref>

References

External links

Colchester County High School for Girls
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Kate 1964 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bradford English chief executives English businesspeople in retailing People from Bishop's Stortford SSP Group Chancellors of the University of Bradford