Dame Gail Rebuck

Gail Rebuck read Intellectual History at Sussex University. After a brief stint as a European tour guide, she began her publishing career as a production assistant before Century Publishing founder Anthony Cheetham asked her to join him in 1982. Starting with a phone in a small room, they built a business which took over the far bigger Hutchinson, and which was subsequently bought by Random House in a £64.5 million deal in 1989. Gail Rebuck became chairman and chief executive of the Random House Group in 1991. Gail is a passionate believer in literacy and conceived World Book Day in 1998 and launched the Quick Reads charity in 2006.