Gillian Tett

Gillian Romaine Tett OBE (born 10 July 1967) is a British author and journalist. She is a member of the editorial board for the Financial Times.^[3][4][5] 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 OBE
Tett in September 2014
Provost of King's College, Cambridge
Incumbent
Assumed office October 2023
Preceded by	Michael Proctor
Personal details
Born	(1967-07-10) 10 July 1967 (age 58)[1]
Citizenship	British
Children	2
Education	North London Collegiate School
Alma mater	Clare College, Cambridge[2]
Occupation	Member of Editorial Board, Columnist, Financial Times

Her work covering the 2008 financial crisis^[6][7] received extensive media attention for its prescient coverage of the financial instruments that led to the 2008 financial crisis.^[8][9] Tett was appointed the provost of King's College, Cambridge in October 2023.^[10]

Early life and education

Tett was born on 10 July 1967.^[11] 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,^[12] during which time, at the age of 17, she worked for a Pakistani nonprofit.^[9]

After leaving school, Tett studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Archaeology and Anthropology.^[13][14] She then undertook a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Social Anthropology based on field research in Tajikistan in the former Soviet Union.^[15][16] Her doctoral thesis was titled "Ambiguous alliances: marriage and identity in a Muslim village in Soviet Tajikistan".^[17] She expressed frustration with the discipline of academic anthropology which, in accordance with the prevailing postmodernism, had become so self-critical that it appeared to be committing a variety of "intellectual suicide".^[9] Instead, she decided to pursue a career in journalism.^[18]

Career

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.^[15] In 2003, she became deputy head of the Lex column.^{[19][20][21][22]} 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.^[15][23] 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.^{[24][25][26][27][9]} Her 2009 book Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream 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 2008 financial crisis.^[9] The book was widely reviewed throughout the English-speaking world^[28][29] and won the Spear's Book Award for the financial book of 2009.^[30][31]

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

In February 2023, her election was announced as the next Provost of King's College, Cambridge.^[32] She took up the post in October 2023 in succession to Professor Michael Proctor.^[33]

Personal life

Tett lives in London, England and has two children.^[34] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to economic journalism.^[35]

Awards and honours

• 2007, Wincott prize for financial journalism (capital markets coverage)^[36]
• 2008, Business Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards^[37]
• 2009, Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards^[38]
• 2009, Financial Book of the Year (for Fool's Gold)^[39][40]
• 2011, President's Medal of the British Academy.^[41]
• 2012, Business Communicator of the Year, UK Speechwriters' Guild
• 2012, Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award for best feature article, for Madoff spins his story
• 2013, Honorary doctorate, Baruch College of the City University of New York^[42]
• 2014, Columnist of the Year, British Press Awards
• 2015, Honorary degree, Lancaster University^[43]
• 2016, Honorary degree, University of Exeter.^[44]
• 2016, Honorary degree, University of Miami^[45][46]
• 2017, Honorary fellowship, Goldsmiths, University of London.^[47]
• 2017, Tepper School of Business Award for Professional Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University^[48]
• 2017, Foreign Commentator of the Year, Editorial Intelligence Archived 1 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• 2019, Best in Business Honorees, Newsletter, Moral Money
• 2020, Winner, Newsletter Category, Moral Money

Books

• 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 978-1408701645
  • Alternate Title: How an Ingenious Tribe of Bankers Rewrote the Rules of Finance, Made a Fortune and Survived a Catastrophe, 2009 (ISBN 978-1408701676)
  • 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 978-1416598572)
  • Alternate Title: Fool's Gold: The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe, 2010 (ISBN 978-1439100134)
• 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