Anne Richards (chief executive)


Anne Richards, CVO, CBE, FRSE, is the chief executive officer of Fidelity International. Prior to this, she was the chief investment officer of Aberdeen Asset Management and chief executive officer of M&G Investments.

Early career

Richards grew up in Edinburgh and was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh. She began her career with a research fellowship at CERN, after graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a First Class Honours degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering. She subsequently worked for Cambridge Consultants, before returning to study at Insead in Fontainebleau, France, for an MBA.

City career

Richards worked initially as an analyst with Alliance Capital, before moving to JP Morgan, working in portfolio management, and then moving on to Mercury Asset Management, and later MLIM. In 2002 she took up the post of Chief Investment Officer and Joint Managing Director of Edinburgh Fund Managers plc. When EFM was taken over by Aberdeen Asset Management in 2003, Richards continued in her role as Chief Investment Officer.
It was announced in February 2016 that she would be taking over from Michael McLintock as chief executive of M&G Investments from June 2016.
In July 2018, it was announced that she would leave M&G Investments, following the merger to become M&G Prudential, to join Fidelity International as Chief Executive Officer.

Non-executive positions

Richards is Vice-Convener of the Court of the University of Edinburgh. She is a former director of both the esure Group plc and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
She is a member of the US-based Board of Leaders of 2020 Women on Boards, which works to increasing the proportion of women on corporate boards.
Richards is chair of the CERN and Society Foundation Board since 2015.

Membership and honours

Richards is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. In March 2016 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy for science and letters.