The Right Honourable The Baroness Brady CBE |
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As guest speaker at the University of Wolverhampton, March 2008.
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Member of the House of Lords | |
Assumed office 22 September 2014 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Karren Rita Brady 4 April 1969 Edmonton, London, United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Paul Peschisolido (m. 1995) |
Children | 2 |
Residence | Knowle, near Solihull, United Kingdom |
Occupation | Businesswoman, journalist, politician, broadcaster, media personality, author, novelist |
Known for | Vice-chairman of West Ham United |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Website | www |
Karren Rita Brady, Baroness Brady, CBE (born 4 April 1969) is an English sporting executive, politician, television personality, newspaper columnist, author and novelist. She is the former managing director of Birmingham City F.C. and current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C.. She is featured in the BBC One series The Apprentice as an aide to Lord Sugar. She was the Small Business Ambassador to the UK Government under Prime Minister David Cameron.
She is known as "The First Lady of Football". Her appointment with Birmingham City began in March 1993, when she was 23. In 2002 she became the first woman to hold such a post in the top flight of English football when the team was promoted. She oversaw the company's flotation in 1997, thus becoming the youngest managing director of a UK plc. She left in 2009 when her employers David Sullivan and David Gold sold the club for £81.5 million. In January 2010 she was appointed vice-chairman of West Ham United following Sullivan and Gold's purchasing of the club. Brady is a regular writer for the Woman & Home magazine and The Sun. She has also published four books including two novels, and her latest title, Strong Woman, published in March 2012 and aimed at inspiring women in business, is a Sunday Times Bestseller. On 22 September 2014, Brady was elevated to the House of Lords as a Conservative life peer, taking the title Baroness Brady.