What Is Karren Brady's Net Worth and Salary?
Karren Brady, Baroness Brady, CBE, is an English businesswoman, journalist, author, and media personality who has a net worth of $40 million. Karren Brady is the former managing director of Birmingham City F.C. and the current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C. Over the years, a common misconception about Karren's wealth has proliferated. You can find numerous outlets that claim she sold her stake in Birmingham F.C. in 2009 for £81.5 million. That's not accurate. In October 2009, David Sullivan, the man she convinced to buy the club in 1993 for around $1 million, sold the franchise for £81.5 million.
Karren was only 18 and had no college degree when she landed a job in advertising, first at Saatchi & Saatchi. She then moved on to the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) as a sales executive. By the time she turned 20, Brady joined Sport Newspapers Ltd, where she became one of the directors within a year.
Dubbed "The First Lady of Football," she took up an appointment at Birmingham City as Managing Director in March 1993. Holding the post until 2009, Brady turned the Club's fortunes around. Thus, she was named the youngest managing director of a UK plc in 1997 and became the first woman to have a position in the top flight of English football in 2002.
In January 2010, she became Vice-Chairman of West Ham United. Furthermore, Brady is the columnist for several notable printed editions, including "The Sun" newspaper and the popular magazine "Women & Home." She has also published a number of books, two of which are novels. Highly respected for her work, Karren is a notable motivational public speaker as well. However, her appointments don't end there, as she is a judge of the "Cosmopolitan" Women of Achievement Awards and the Sports Industry Awards, as well as the "Red Magazine" Women Awards and "Women & Home" Women Awards.
Salary
Karren Brady's base salary at West Ham is around $1.6 million. In a typical year she also receives a roughly $1 million bonus.
Early Life
Karren Brady was born on April 4, 1969, in Edmonton, London, England. She is the daughter of Terry and Rita Brady. Her father was Irish, while her mother was Italian. She grew up with her older brother, Darren. She attended Salcombe Preparatory School in Southgate and then Poles Convent, a boarding school in Ware, Hertfordshire. Karren then attended Aldenham School, Elstree, a boys' school that accepted girls later in their education. This is where she gained four A-levels, which are a British qualification level that high school students complete in different subject areas prior to university.
Career
Brady began her career as a trainee at the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. She had applied for a journalism program at Harlow College but had been rejected. A year later, she joined the London Broadcasting Company as an advertising account executive. Karren targeted the advertising business of David Sullivan, the owner of the "Daily Sport" and the "Sunday Sport." Sullivan spent millions on advertising in six months and was so impressed with Brady that he gave her a job with "Sport Newspapers."
Brady became a director for Sullivan at the age of 20. While working for him, she saw an advertisement in the "Financial Times" for the sale of Birmingham City F.C. when the soccer club was in receivership. She convinced Sullivan to buy the club and let her run it. He agreed. Brady was only 23 when she started working as the managing director of Birmingham City F.C. in 1993. She remained in this role until October 2009. Sullivan sold the club shortly afterward.
In January 2010, Brady was appointed vice-chairman of West Ham United by new joint-chairman David Sullivan, who had also moved over to the club. She oversaw West Ham's move from the Boleyn Ground stadium to the Olympic Stadium, which was subsequently renamed London Stadium, in the summer of 2016. This move increased the club's capacity from 35,000 to 57,000 seats.
Brady has also been the chairman of "Kerrang!," a music magazine. She also had a seat on the board of Sport England. She was a non-executive director at Channel 4 television and then moved to take a position at Syco, the company co-owned by Simon Cowell and Sony. Karren also has served on the board of Taveta Investments Ltd. and has worked in a non-executive position with Mothercare.
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Additionally, Brady raised her public profile further in March 2007 when she appeared as a celebrity contestant on "Comic Relief Does The Apprentice." She later appeared as a guest interviewer on a couple of seasons of "The Apprentice." In 2009, she became the assistant of Lord Alan Sugar, the main host of the show.
Brady has additionally pursued a career in politics. She first publicly discussed her interest in politics in 2013. She has since become a Conservative member of the House of Lords and has been a Small Business Ambassador to the UK government.
Throughout her career, Brady has won a number of awards and accolades. In 2006, she was named the "Cosmopolitan" magazine Woman of the Year. The following year, she was named the Revitalise Businesswoman of the Year. In November 2010, she was listed in the business category of "The Sunday Telegraph" 100 Most Powerful Women in Britain list. She was also included in the "Evening Standard" list of London's 1000 Most Influential People of 2010. The same year, Karren was awarded an honorary doctorate in business from the University of Birmingham. In 2011, she was awarded Britain's Most Inspirational Woman by the Breakthrough for Cancer Inspiration Awards. In 2012, she was awarded the CEO of the Year Award at the Football Business Awards. She received her CBE honor in the 2014 New Year Honours for her services to the British Empire in entrepreneurship and women in business. That year, she was also number 10 on "The Guardian" 50 Most Influential Women List. Additionally, she was elevated to the Lords as Baroness Brady in August 2014.
Personal Life
In 1995, Brady married Canadian soccer player Paul Peschisolido. He played for Birmingham City for two seasons from 1992 to 1994. In 1996, Karren welcomed a daughter named Sophia. They later had a boy named Paolo. The couple lives in the Knightsbridge area of London. They also have a house in Canada and a property in the village of Knowle in the West Midlands.
In 2006, Brady underwent a full-body MRI scan as part of a medical screening. It unexpectedly discovered a potentially fatal cerebral aneurysm. Doctors told her it was a miracle she had survived the births of her two children. In February 2006, she underwent neurosurgery to prevent the aneurysm from rupturing. She made a full recovery and returned to work one month later.
