Gail Rebuck

Gail Rebuck, Baroness Rebuck of Bloomsbury, DBE (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher and Chair of the international book publishing group Penguin Random House's British operations.

Early life and education

Rebuck's Latvian-born Jewish grandfather, and her own father, were both in the London rag trade. Her mother was a Dutch Jew.[1] At the age of four she was sent to the South Kensington Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, learning there to read and write in French before she did in English. She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from Sussex University in 1974.

Career

Rebuck worked for several independent publishers and ran a paperback imprint for Hamlyn before putting her own funds into a new imprint, Century. After a merger with Hutchinson in 1985, Century Hutchinson was taken over by Random House UK in 1989. Rebuck was appointed Chair and Chief Executive of Random House UK in 1991.

Rebuck was listed at fifth place in a 2006 Observer list of the top people in the British books industry, and at ninth place in a 2011 Guardian version of the list.

In February 2013 she was assessed as the 10th most powerful woman in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.

In February 2015 Rebuck succeeded Sir Neil Cossons as Pro-Provost and Chair of Council (the governing body) at the Royal College of Art; she joined the RCA Council in 1999.

Marriage

She was married to Philip Gould, Lord Gould of Brookwood, until his death in November 2011. The couple had two daughters, Georgia Anne Rebuck Gould and Grace Atlanta Rebuck Gould.

Honours

Rebuck was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours, and promoted to Dame Commander (DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

In 2014, it was announced that Rebuck was to become a Labour peer in the House of Lords, following in the footsteps of her late husband. She was created a Life Peer on 18 September 2014, taking the title Baroness Rebuck of Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden.