Anne McKevitt—Full Biography

Globally recognised entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, Anne McKevitt has an outstanding reputation and is sought internationally as a foremost business authority and expert.

As one of the world’s most renowned business entrepreneurs, she was awarded Leading Women Entrepreneur of the World 2002-2003. Anne founded and headed up over 20 separate businesses during the last two decades. One such business, in three years delivered the design of 1600 products with a retail value of $975 million.

Additionally, Anne has mentored, guided, and worked with exceptional individuals and companies to assist them in growing their organisations, including: Mercedes, IKEA, Royal Doulton, Peugeot, Ernst & Young, Wal*Mart, Deloitte, Waterford Crystal, Jeep, Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Pottery Barn, Moët e Chandon, Freeman’s, Sainsbury’s, Debenhams, Wedgwood, Marks & Spencer, Commonwealth Bank, Optus, AMP, Toyota, and Hewlett-Packard. She is also a much sought after speaker, having performed live at events with audiences of 25,000 people. Serial entrepreneurial in spirit and global in impact, Anne McKevitt has consistently been an industry leader.

Anne McKevitt grew up in the far north of Scotland, where she left school at age 15 without any qualifications to her name. With only enough money to survive for one month in London, she headed off to the capital with her sights set on making her mark. Since then she has had a remarkable journey from being completely penniless to truly wealthy, and from government council house to The White House.

Anne’s reputation and achievement highlights include:

• Member of President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative
• Received Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World™ 2002-2003 award
• Member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard
• Recognised by The International Herald Tribune as a World Class Entrepreneur
• Named by Time Magazine as “one of Four International Business Leaders to Watch”
• Ranked #30 in The Sunday Times “500 Most Powerful Britons”
• Forbes Magazine stated, “at the head of the pack … Anne McKevitt”
• Executive-in-Residence, Brisbane Graduate School of Business, QUT
• Chaired Ernst & Young’s 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year awards

By the time she was 23 Anne had already become renowned through her work in the world of fashion, before starting her first business by chance. She had no big game plan—in fact, she had no plan at all. No goals. She didn’t know she was meant to have any, just, as she puts it, “lots of courage, a big dream, and a massive dose of naïveté.” That first business was a property development company. She started it with just £5,000 “borrowed” from her MasterCard® because she didn’t have any savings. In less than one year she had turned it into a multi-million pound business. Soon she was refurbishing and developing hundreds of London homes and made record prices per square foot for every property she sold. She could have retired for life before her 24th birthday, but instead, over the past 20 years has turned everything into gold.

In early 1994, Anne, as Britain’s most sought after property developer and interior designer, caught the attention of TV producers looking for a host for a new lifestyle show. Because of her learn-on-the-job skills in property and her reputation for turning any property into a goldmine, Anne was asked by BBC TV producers to show her skills to the British public.

• Best Home in Scotland—UK National Home Builder design award sponsored by The Guardian newspaper
• Best Home for the Future in the UK—UK National Home Builder design award sponsored by The Guardian newspaper
• Best Interior Layout—What House award sponsored by The Sunday Times newspaper
• Civic Trust Award 2001—Saltire Society
• Housing Design Award 2000—Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• Regeneration Achievement Award 2000—Supreme Award, Chartered Institute of Building, Scotland
• Good Building Award 2000—Royal Town Planning Institute award for Planning Achievement 2000
• Commendation for Planning Urban Renaissance
• WH Smith Literary Award, nominated Designer Know How for book of the year

Her work and interviews have appeared in hundreds of magazine publications in the UK and internationally, and she has been featured in thousands of newspaper articles around the world, including: The New York Times, The Sunday Times, The Times, Sun Herald, Vive, Cape Argus, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, USA Today, Vogue, Harpers & Queen, ELLE, Hello!, OK!, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Home & Garden, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Living etc, Forbes, Time, She, Ideal Home, Radio Times, TV Times, Your Garden, Company, Executive Magazine, Wealth Creator and Chief Executive.

At the height of her fame and success, Anne decided it was time to map out and move on to the next chapter of her life, even though she was due to enter into a lucrative new global TV deal. Having accomplished everything she set out to do within the medium of design, she felt that it was time to move away and concentrate fully on her other, less public interests. These include multiple businesses, humanitarian work, and education. Some have said it was a brave move, leaving behind her TV celebrity status. Instead, Anne found it totally liberating to focus on her life as a serial and social entrepreneur. Granted a “Distinguished Talent” visa by the Australian Government, Anne moved permanently to Sydney, Australia, which she now calls home.

In addition to her own charity projects, Anne worked with micro-finance charity Opportunity International–Australia. She is a moral vegetarian of some 37 years and a lifelong environmentalist and social entrepreneur. She is a member of the British Humanist Association, PETA, and the Australian and British Vegetarian Societies.

Anne McKevitt’s business and philanthropic reputation has taken her into global political circles. 2006 saw Anne being invited to join Harvard’s Women Leadership Board at the John.F.Kennedy School of Government. In 2007 she was invited to join the Clinton Global Initiative where she worked alongside past and present presidential and prime ministerial heads of state, addressing the issues and making a personal commitment to implement changes in poverty alleviation, global health, climate change, and education.

Anne has worked on humanitarian and climate issues alongside:

The Honorable Al Gore
Sergey Brin—Co-founder of Google
Chad Hurley—Co-founder of YouTube
Steve Chen—Co-founder of YouTube
King Albert of Monaco
Carlos Slim Helú—Forbes recognised richest man in the world
Ted Turner—CNN founder
Rupert Murdoch—Founder of 
News Corp
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Brad Pitt—Climate campaigner and actor
Shakira—Poverty alleviation 
campaigner and singer
Bianca Jagger—Libertarian
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber—Abu Dhabi
The Honorable Hank Paulson—former Treasury Secretary
Fareed Zakaria—Editor of Newsweek
 International
Angelina Jolie—Goodwill ambassador,
 UN refugee agency, and actor
H. Lee Scott—CEO, Walmart
Jane Goodall—Animal rights activist
Donna Karan—Clothing designer
Robert Zoellick—President of the 
World Bank
Michael Eisner—Former CEO, Disney
Theodore Roosevelt IV—Climate 
campaigner
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Morgan Freeman—Actor
Andre Agassi—Tennis champion 
and philanthropist
Judy McGrath—CEO, MTV
Indra Nooyi—CEO, PepsiCo
Tony Bennett—Singer and 
philanthropist
Barbara Streisand—Singer, actor, 
and philanthropist
J. Craig Venter—Genome sequencer

Anne McKevitt was invited to The White House and Capitol Hill by the Bush Administration in 2007 to take part in discussions and attend briefings on foreign policy, labor, legislative affairs, and climate change, and subsequently fulfilled a long held ambition to visit the Oval Office. In 2009 she met with President Barack Obama.

2010 was a pivotal year of change for Anne in which she mapped out the next chapter. The year became one of new pursuits and relinquishing, redefining and reviewing what was most important to her both personally and in business. With this in mind, Anne resized and refined her business portfolio and organizational involvement to a core select few existing and new ventures that enthused her and that could bring about the most positive change across the globe. It was also the year that saw her take her first 14,000 feet skydive.

2011 saw her native Scotland recognise her as one of 50 Highland Heroes from the last 500 years—an honour of which she is extremely proud. Her personal pastimes include: photography, abstract painting, pottery, yoga, tennis, kayaking, year round sea swimming, surfing, body boarding, movies and chilling out at the beach when she should be in the office. She is a self-confessed brain neuroscience groupie and space science geek.

Earlier this year she was one of only 150 people from around the globe who were invited by NASA to witness the final launches of Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral. The behind the scenes experience at NASA, which included private time with astronauts, technicians, scientists and NASA chiefs was definitely one of Anne’s favourite lifetime experiences. To cap it off it even included a photo opportunity with Anne leaning against the NASA countdown clock—a childhood dream come true. Anne since re-confirmed that she still wants to be a stowaway on the first manned mission to Mars!

To find out more about Anne McKevitt, view her press cuttings or book her for a speaking engagement click this link  This link will take you to AnneMcKevitt.com