Carolyn Fairbairn

Carolyn joined the CBI as Director General in November 2015 following a 25 year career in British business. She spent her early career at McKinsey, before taking on a range of senior leadership roles in the media industry.

At McKinsey, Carolyn advised companies across the UK in a wide range of sectors. As BBC Director of Strategy, she led the BBC’s digital strategy and ran its transmission arm. In 2003, she created and launched Freeview, one of the UK’s most successful new TV services. From 2007-2010, Carolyn was Director of Group Development and Strategy at ITV.

Carolyn has been a non-executive director of Lloyds Banking Group, The Vitec Group, Capita plc, the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK Statistics Authority and, from 2008-11, the Financial Services Authority.

From 1995-97, Carolyn was a member of the Number 10 Policy Unit.  

Carolyn holds a first-class degree in Economics from Cambridge University, an MBA from INSEAD, and MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.