When they said ‘Don’t mess with Texas’, they might have had Marjorie Scardino in mind.
Both the highest paid publishing executive and female executive in the UK, Scardino is peerless within her gender and more than holds her own against the men that dominate boardrooms.
When she became the first ever female CEO of a FTSE-100 company it seemed to herald the end of the ‘glass ceiling’. Alas no – almost a decade later the ‘first lady of the FTSE’ is still the only presence in this exclusive club, making her achievements all the more impressive.
Scardino has taken multi-tasking to unparalleled heights, excelling in journalism, law and executive management, while still finding precious time for her most valued assets – husband Albert and her three children.
Fresh out of law school in 1975 and working as a desk editor for the Associated Press in Charleston, the then Marjorie Morris met young reporter Albert Scardino on the job and the pair were soon saying their wedding vows. They went on to set up the Pulitzer Prize-winning Georgia Gazette, which she wrote for while holding down a partnership in a local law firm.
In 1985 Scardino became Managing Director of the US division of London-based magazine The Economist. After working magic with its circulation and profits she became CEO of the Economist Group in 1992.
The hawk eye of the media was now trained on Scardino and in 1997 Pearson PLC – an international media conglomerate that owns Penguin Books, the Financial Times and 50% of The Economist – made her their CEO. It’s no surprise that her first year’s salary of $1.7m was 60% performance-driven bonuses.
Now a British citizen, Scardino lives in London. Although it costs half a million for a decent house and £3 a pint, Scardino’s estimated £10m personal fortune ensures that she does not have to live in Peckham and drink in Wetherspoons.
Having reshuffled Pearson’s assets (selling off Madame Tussaud’s for one) to make it primarily media-based, Scardino and Pearson now find themselves sitting pretty among the top broncos of the UK stock exchange.
