Angela Ahrendts

Ahrendts was born and raised in New Palestine, Indiana, the third of six children. Her father, Richard Ahrendts, was a businessman, and her mother, Jean, was a homemaker.

She attended New Palestine High School, where she was a varsity cheerleader. In 1981, she earned an undergraduate degree in Merchandising and Marketing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Ahrendts moved to New York City to work in the fashion industry. After a series of positions including merchandising at bra maker Warnaco, she joined Donna Karan International in 1989, working to develop the luxury brand internationally through both wholesale and licensing. In 1996, she was hired at Henri Bendel by Leslie Wexner to expand Bendel stores to 50 new markets, but the project was cancelled by the board of directors two years later.

In 1998, she joined Fifth & Pacific Companies as vice president of corporate merchandising and design. In 2001, she was promoted to senior vice president of corporate merchandising and group president, responsible for the merchandising of the group's 20 plus brands including Laundry by Shelli Segal, Lucky Brand Dungarees and the men's retail business of Liz Claiborne Inc. In 2002, she was promoted again to serve as executive vice president, with full responsibility for the complete line of Liz Claiborne products, services and development across both women's and men's lines.

Burberry

Ahrendts joined Burberry in January 2006, and took up the position of CEO on July 1, 2006, replacing Rose Marie Bravo. She mitigated the brand's decline in prestige by immediately limiting the number of clothing and accessories carrying the Burberry check pattern to 10%, minimizing the damage ubiquitous counterfeits had caused to sales. She also oversaw the buying back of the brand's fragrance and beauty product licenses and the buying out of the Spanish franchise which was then generating 20% of group revenues to stop its unfettered licensing. She stated that she did not model her approach after any other fashion house, but looked to world-class design as an influence, including Apple Inc. The company value rose during her tenure from £2 billion to over £7 billion. CNN Money reported that during 2012, she was the highest-paid CEO in the U.K., making $26.3 million.

Ahrendts met her husband, Gregg Couch, while they were in elementary school, and they were high school sweethearts. The couple has three children. When she was working at Burberry, the family lived in a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) home on an 8 acres (3.2 ha) plot west of London. Brought up a Methodist, she is still an active Christian.