Gillian Tett

Gillian Romaine Tett (born 10 July 1967) is a British author and journalist who is provost of King's College, Cambridge and a member of the editorial board for the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. Tett co-founded Moral Money, the paper's sustainability newsletter.

Her work covering the 2008 financial crisis received extensive media attention for its prescient coverage of the financial instruments that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Early life and education Tett was born on 10 July 1967 and attended the private North London Collegiate School in the London Borough of Harrow. Aged 17, she worked for a Pakistani nonprofit.

Tett studied at the University of Cambridge at Clare College, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Archaeology and Anthropology. She was subsequently awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in social anthropology in 1996 for field research in Tajikistan in the former Soviet Union. She expressed frustration with the discipline of academic anthropology which, in accordance with the prevailing postmodernism, had become so self-critical that she felt it was committing "intellectual suicide".

Career In 1993, Tett joined the Financial Times as a correspondent from the former Soviet Union and Europe. In 1997, she was posted to Tokyo, where she later became bureau chief. Tett was then U.S. managing editor at the FT, before working as an assistant editor and columnist before returning to the U.S. managing editor position.

From 2005 to 2007, Tett conducted ethnographic research on the American banking institution J.P. Morgan and discovered that the insular culture was leading to the creation of financial instruments that had little basis and that could cause severe economic disruption. In a series of articles in the Financial Times between 2006–07, she wrote about the dangers posed by securitization and financial derivatives, and the unreliability of credit rating agencies.

Anthro-Vision, a New Way to See in Life and Business, where she has served since October 2023, succeeding Michael Proctor.

Awards and honours 2007, Wincott prize for financial journalism (capital markets coverage) 2008, Business Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards 2009, Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards 2009, Financial Book of the Year (for Fool's Gold) 2011, President's Medal of the British Academy. 2012, Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award for best feature article, for Madoff spins his story 2013, Honorary doctorate, Baruch College of the City University of New York 2015, Honorary degree, Lancaster University 2016, Honorary degree, University of Exeter. 2016, Honorary degree, University of Miami 2017, Honorary fellowship, Goldsmiths, University of London. 2017, Tepper School of Business Award for Professional Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University 2017, Foreign Commentator of the Year, Editorial Intelligence 2019, Best in Business Honorees, Newsletter, Moral Money 2019, Honorary degree, University of St Andrews 2020, Winner, Newsletter Category, Moral Money

Books Tett's published books include: Saving the Sun: How Wall Street Mavericks Shook Up Japan's Financial World and Made Billions (2004) Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (2009) The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers (2015) Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life (2009)

Personal life Tett married Michael J Campbell in 1997. She was a single parent to two daughters, until marrying Henrik Jones in 2024 (having met in 2021).

She is a member of the Overseas Press Club.