Gillian Romaine Tett OBE (born 10 July 1967) is a British author and journalist. She is the chair of the editorial board for the Financial Times, jointly serving as its U.S. editor-at-large.[3][4] She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. Tett co-founded Moral Money, the paper's sustainability newsletter.

Gillian Tett
Tett in September 2014
Personal details
Born (1967-07-10) 10 July 1967 (age 56)[1]
CitizenshipBritish
Children2
EducationNorth London Collegiate School
Alma materClare College, Cambridge[2]
OccupationU.S. Managing Editor, Editorial Board Chair, Financial Times

Her work covering the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08[5][6] received extensive media attention for its prescient coverage of the financial instruments that led to the crisis.[7][8] Tett was appointed the provost of King's College, Cambridge in October 2023.[9]

Early life and education edit

Tett was born on 10 July 1967.[10] She was educated at the North London Collegiate School, an independent school for girls in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London,[11] during which time, at the age of 17, she worked for a Pakistani nonprofit.[8]

After leaving school, Tett studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Archaeology and Anthropology.[12][13] She then undertook a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Social Anthropology based on field research in Tajikistan in the former Soviet Union.[14][15] Her doctoral thesis was titled "Ambiguous alliances: marriage and identity in a Muslim village in Soviet Tajikstan".[16] She expressed frustration with an academic anthropology career that in her view was like committing "intellectual suicide"[8] and decided instead to pursue a career in journalism.[17]

Career edit

In 1993, Tett joined the Financial Times as a correspondent from the former Soviet Union and Europe. In 1997, she was posted to Tokyo, where she later became bureau chief.[14] In 2003, she became deputy head of the Lex column.[18][19][20][21] Tett was then U.S. managing editor at the FT, before working as an assistant editor and columnist before returning to the U.S. managing editor position.[14][22] She is also the chairwoman of the board of trustees for the Knight–Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism with Columbia University.

From 2005 to 2007, Tett conducted ethnographic research on the American banking institution J.P. Morgan and discovered that the insular culture was leading to the creation of financial instruments that had little basis and that could cause severe economic disruption. In a series of articles in the Financial Times between 2006-07, she wrote about the dangers posed by securitization and financial derivatives, and the unreliability of credit rating agencies.[23][24][25][26][8] Her 2009 book Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dreams of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe recounts the lead-up to the economic crisis and the eventual collapse. She also played a significant role in the 2010 documentary Inside Job about the financial crisis of 2008.[8] The book was widely reviewed throughout the English-speaking world[27][28] and won the Spear's Book Award for the financial book of 2009.[29][30]

In 2010 Tett interviewed author Sebastian Mallaby on C-SPAN about his book More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite providing a very clear image of hedge funds.[relevant?] Mallaby introduced "James Simons, founder of the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund and arguably the most successful investor of all time"[31][relevant?] but who was virtually unknown in 2010.[32][relevant?]

Anthro-Vision, a New Way to See in Life and Business, published in June 2021, concerns the behaviour of organizations, individuals, and markets by looking through an anthropological lens.[citation needed]

King's College, Cambridge edit

In February 2023, her election was announced as the next Provost of King's College, Cambridge.[33] She took up the post in October 2023 in succession to Professor Michael Proctor.[34]

Personal life edit

Tett lives in London, England and has two children.[35] Tett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to economic journalism.[36]

Awards and honours edit

Books edit

  • Saving the Sun: How Wall Street Mavericks Shook Up Japan's Financial World and Made Billions, 2004 (ISBN 978-0060554255).
  • Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe ISBN 978-1-4087-0164-5
    • Alternate Title: Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dreams of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4165-9857-2)
  • The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers, 2015 (ISBN 978-1451644739)
  • Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life, 2021

References edit

  1. ^ "Tett, Gillian". Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Financial Times appoints Gillian Tett US managing editor". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Financial Times appoints Gillian Tett US managing editor". Financial Times. Financial. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  4. ^ Mete, Thomas (4 February 2023). "Journalist Gillian Tett Touts Insight from Anthropology at Harvard". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ^ MacKenzie, Donald (25 June 2009). "All Those Arrows". London Review of Books. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  6. ^ Barber, Lionel (16 July 2009). "Why journalism matters: Lionel Barber's speech in full". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  7. ^ Robinson, James (12 October 2008). "Why didn't the City journalists see the financial crisis coming?". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d e McKenna, Brian (2011):Bestselling Anthropologist "Predicted" Financial Meltdown of 2008 Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter
  9. ^ "Gillian Tett elected as next Provost at King's". King's College Cambridge. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Birthdays". The Guardian. 10 July 2014. p. 31.
  11. ^ Accomplished ONLS – Distinguished ONLS List Archived 7 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Publisher: North London Collegiate. Retrieved: 23 February 2014.
  12. ^ Tett, Gillian (2021). Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life. Penguin Books. p. 13.
  13. ^ "Tett, Gillian Romaine, (born 10 July 1967), US Managing Editor, Financial Times, 2010–12 and since 2014". Who's Who 2022. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  14. ^ a b c "Gillian Tett profile". Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  15. ^ Medland, Dina (2009). "Take Three" (PDF). University of Cambridge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  16. ^ Tett, Gillian (1996). "Ambiguous alliances: marriage and identity in a Muslim village in Soviet Tajikstan". E-Thesis Online Service. The British Library Board. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Saving the Sun: Shinsei and the Battle for Japan's Future". Book launch event – author biography. The Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation. February 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  18. ^ "Barclays Chief Executive to Spearhead Task Force on Tax and Benefits". HM Treasury. 19 May 1997. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  19. ^ Farey-Jones, Daniel (26 September 2005). "Financial Times doubles coverage of Lex column". Brand Republic. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  20. ^ Morgan, Jean (30 September 2007). "FT's Lex expands". Press Gazette. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  21. ^ Ali, Rafat (6 June 2008). "WSJ To Sever Ties With Breakingviews; Selling Its Minority Stake?". Paidcontent.org. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  22. ^ "Financial Times appoints Gillian Tett US managing editor". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  23. ^ "Financial wizards' debt to ratings agencies". Financial Times. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  24. ^ "Elaborate debt deals spread risk but distort the data | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  25. ^ "Failing grades? | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  26. ^ Barton, Laura (31 October 2008). "On the money". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  27. ^ Murali, D. (19 July 2009). "Money, a vital fluid that must flow freely". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  28. ^ Sunderland, Ruth (7 June 2009). "They had parties, we got the hangover". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  29. ^ Allentuck, Andrew (3 July 2009). "Imaginary money". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  30. ^ Barrett, Paul M. (12 June 2009). "Rewriting the Rules". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  31. ^ Patterson, Scott (16 June 2010). "The Long and Short of It: You'd be secretive, too, if you were making billion-dollar bets". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  32. ^ "After Words with Sebastian Mallaby". C-Span. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2015. Interviewer Gillian Tett
  33. ^ "Catz and King's announce new college heads". Varsity Online. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  34. ^ "Gillian Tett elected as next Provost at King's". King's College Cambridge. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  35. ^ "The 60-second interview: Gillian Tett, U.S. Managing editor, Financial Times". Politico. 14 May 2015.
  36. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N16.
  37. ^ "Press & Broadcasting Awards List of Winners: Senior Financial Journalist". The Wincott Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  38. ^ "British Press Awards 2008: The full list of winners". Press Gazette. 8 April 2008. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  39. ^ "British Press Awards 2009: The full list of winners". Press Gazette. 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  40. ^ Foley, Stephen (1 May 2009). "Fool's Gold, By Gillian Tett". The Independent. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  41. ^ "Spear's Book Awards: Winners". Spear's Wealth Management Survey. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  42. ^ "The British Academy President's Medal". British Academy. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  43. ^ "Colleges announce commencement speakers @insidehighered". Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  44. ^ "FT's Gillian Tett receives honorary degree". Lancaster University. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  45. ^ "Honorary graduates 2016-17, Gillian Tett (DLitt)". University of Exeter. 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  46. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". University of Miami. 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  47. ^ Gillian Tett (6 May 2016). "Commencement speech for University of Miami "Connecting the dots in a dangerous fragmented world"" (PDF). University of Miami. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  48. ^ Pete Wilson (21 December 2017). "Goldsmiths Fellowships for stars who inform, engage, and entertain". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  49. ^ "CMU Commencent and TepperSchool Diploma Ceremonies Honored Graduates and Faculty". Carnegie Mellon University. 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.

External links edit