Marjorie Scardino

Dame
Marjorie Scardino
DBE FRSA
Scardino in 2013
Born
Marjorie Morris

(1947-01-25) 25 January 1947 (age 77)
Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.[1]
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materBaylor University
OccupationChief executive
EmployerPearson plc
SpouseAlbert Scardino
Children3, including Hal Scardino

Dame Marjorie Scardino (née Morris; born 25 January 1947) is an American-born British business executive. She is the former CEO of Pearson PLC. Scardino became a trustee of Oxfam during her tenure at Pearson.[2]

She was criticized by Private Eye magazine because, while Oxfam campaigns against corporate tax avoidance as part of the IF Coalition, Pearson was "a prolific tax haven user ... routing hundreds of millions of pounds through an elaborate series of Luxembourg companies (and a Luxembourg branch of a UK company) to avoid tax".[3][4][5] She became the first female Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed CEO of Pearson[6] in 1997. She is also a non-executive director of Nokia and former CEO of the Economist Group.[7][8] During her time at Pearson, Pearson's profits tripled, to a record £942m.[9]

In December 2013, she joined the board of Twitter, Inc. as its first female director, after a controversy involving a lack of diversity on the Twitter board.[10][11]

  1. ^ Doward, Jamie (9 March 2003). "Can Marje stay in charge?". The Observer. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Oxfam's CEO, Directors and Trustees | Oxfam GB". Oxfam GB. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  3. ^ "The IF Coalition | Enough Food IF". 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  4. ^ "INVISIBLE MONEY 2: VOYAGE TO LUXEMBOURG - Ground Report". groundreport.com. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  5. ^ P5, no 1374, 5–18 September 2014, Private Eye.
  6. ^ BBC female achievements timeline, bbc.co.uk. Accessed 20 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Board of Directors". Nokia. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  8. ^ Colby, Laura (16 March 1998). "Yankee Expansionist Builds British Empire". Fortune. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  9. ^ "BBC News - Pearson: Marjorie Scardino steps down as chief executive". bbc.co.uk. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  10. ^ "Thank you". Twitter. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  11. ^ "Curtain Is Rising on a Tech Premiere With (as Usual) a Mostly Male Cast". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 October 2013.