Burberry head Angela Ahrendts receives honorary DBE
Burberry head Angela Ahrendts receives honorary DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire).
The Business Secretary Vince Cable today (7 April 2014) bestowed an honorary DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) on Angela Ahrendts, the CEO of Burberry, the luxury British fashion house.
Angela Ahrendts, an American citizen, received the honour for her contribution to British business. She was made CEO of the iconic British brand in July 2006.
Under her leadership, the company has become a world-leading luxury brand whose revenues have nearly tripled to more than $3 billion. Manufacture of its products is centralised at Castleford, in West Yorkshire.
Ahrendts is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, and with her husband, Gregg, has set up the Ahrendts-Couch Family Foundation for children and young people. Since 2006, she has been named 1 of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes 5 times.
Speaking at the event, Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
I’m delighted to present this award to Angela who has made an outstanding contribution to British business.
Burberry has enjoyed considerable success under Angela’s leadership. She has revitalised this iconic British brand with flair and cutting edge innovation, allied with sound commercial acumen. She has become a landmark figure in business and like many successful women in Britain today, a powerful role model to the next generation of young British talent.
The ceremony was conducted today (Monday 7 April) at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The honour is 1 of the most senior that can be bestowed.
Note to editors:
-
Non-British citizens are not entitled to receive their honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace and are instead presented with their awards by the relevant Secretary of State.
-
Following the honour, Angela Ahrendts is entitled to use the letters DBE after her name. As a non-British citizen, she is not entitled to use the title “Dame”.
-
The government’s economic policy objective is to achieve ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries’. It set 4 ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’, published at Budget 2011:
- to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
- to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
- to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
- to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe
Work is underway across government to achieve these ambitions, including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with more clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.