Belinda Earl

Belinda Jane Earl (born 20 December 1961) is a British businesswoman, and a non-executive director of Woolworths Holdings Limited (RSA) in addition is a senior advisor to NewtonEurope as well as other retail advisory and mentor positions. She was style director of Marks and Spencer from 2012 to 2019. In 2003, she became the youngest FTSE 500 retail chief executive.

Biography Earl was born in Plymouth, Devon, and attended St Dunstan's Abbey School for Girls. She started working as a Saturday assistant in the menswear department of her local Debenhams During her administration the company did well despite an unfavourable economic climate. She became the first chief executive of a London Stock Exchange-listed company to take maternity leave with the birth of her second son in 2001. Her planned six weeks' absence made headlines of some national newspapers as a relatively long time for a chief executive to take off work. She was re-elected at annual general meetings up to and including 2003.

She left Debenhams in 2003. Her failure that October to secure a buyout of Debenhams by Permira prompted her departure (Debenhams was eventually bought for £1.7 billion by a rival private consortium).

Jaeger Harold Tillman, a retail entrepreneur, had bought Jaeger in 2002 and had inherited a brand in decline. Earl was initially approached in 2004

Educational commitments Earl is a patron of Skillsmart, a retail sector skills council, a fellow of the City & Guilds Institute, and a fellow of the University of Wales.