Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts Is the First Female to Top UK List of Highest Paid Execs

Once upon a time, Burberry meant luxury trench coats, scarves and umbrellas. Enter stage left, 2006: Angela Ahrendts, an Indiana transplant and fashion industry vet with a vision. Ahrendts stepped in as CEO and changed the established UK brand for the better, incorporating animal print, high fashion editorials (see also: Cara Delevingne, Romeo Beckham, Emma Watson) and Burberry-branded cosmetics. Naturally, the label’s plaid-lined signature products remain, but Ahrendts changed the way a new generation looks at the brand and made a pretty penny for herself in the process.

The 53-year-old chief exec recently became the best paid business person in the UK and the first woman to EVER top the list. Clocking in a total pay package of $26.3 million this year ($7.8 million more than the next highest exec), Ahrendts just took one small step for Indianans and one giant step for women worldwide! Fun fact: She wakes up at 4:30am every morning, fueled by my life partner, Diet Coke. I usually try to exert a little willpower, you know? Wait until at LEAST 11am. Then again, I’m not making the big bucks, so maybe I should plug in to my sugar water a little earlier.

Featured image via The Guardian