Carol Galley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1948 (age 77–78) Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England |
| Occupations | Fund manager and businesswoman |
| Years active | 1971-2001 |
| Spouse | Reinhard Winkler |
Carol Galley is a businesswoman who, as a director of Mercury Asset Management, was regarded as the most powerful woman in the City of London in the 1990s.
Her father was Kenneth Galley [1] , who served as chief executive of Newcastle City Council in the 1970s. Her mother was Herta Bernstein, an Austrian-Jewish refugee who came to London to escape the Nazis. Galley was born in Sheffield and originally lived in the Sheffield suburb of Brincliffe before the family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne.
She was educated at Gosforth Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne and then graduated from the University of Leicester with a degree in modern languages (German). [2]
Galley joined Mercury Asset Management (then part of merchant bank S.G. Warburg) in 1971 as a librarian/researcher. She rose rapidly through the ranks in a male-dominated industry, becoming a director and key figure. She co-led Mercury (alongside Stephen Zimmerman) during its golden era in the 1980s and 1990s, when it grew to manage billions in pension funds and became one of Britain's leading investment firms. During that time she played a prominent role in high-profile takeovers, including Granada plc's acquisitions of London Weekend Television (1994) and the Forte Group (1996) [3] , earning her the nickname "Ice Maiden" for her ruthless, decisive style. Credited with helping build Mercury into a powerhouse controlling substantial portions of the London stock market.
Following Merrill Lynch's £3.1 billion acquisition of Mercury in 1997, she became co-head/joint COO of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM). However, she then faced notable controversies, including defending fund performance in a high-profile 2001 High Court negligence case brought by Unilever over underperforming pension funds. Retired in 2001 at age 53, after more than 30 years at Mercury/MLIM, amid reports of underperformance at the firm and a shift in its focus post-acquisition.
Galley amassed significant wealth, with estimates of a £100 million personal fortune by the early 2000s; her 1997 earnings from the Merrill deal reportedly reached £16 million.
Known as one of the UK's highest-paid women and a trailblazer who mentored future City leaders such as Nicola Horlick.
Post-retirement, she pursued interests including trusteeships at the Royal Opera House Trust, Windsor Leadership Trust, and Tate Foundation. She no longer actively makes fund management decisions. She featured on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List with a personal wealth of £80 million. [4]
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