Clara Furse: a biography of a woman with an iron grip
Clara Furse proved to the whole world that in order to be a successful specialist, a professional of her business, it is not necessary to be exclusively occupied with work, forgetting other aspects of a happy life. She became the first woman to hold a managerial position at the London Stock Exchange. At the same time, Clara managed to build a career, start a family, and give birth to three children.
Her family roots are in Germany, where her grandfather went to the Netherlands after Hitler came to power. After the war, he moved to Canada, where Clara was born in 1957. Her family moved around several countries before finally settling in the United Kingdom. Thanks to her parents’ restlessness, Furse learned five languages, which was definitely a bonus for her career development.
As a student at the London School of Economics, Clara was a stockbroker. This experience led her to join Philips and Drew as a broker in 1983, where she became a director five years later. In 1995, she was a director at UBS and then joined CLR Credit Lyonnais. In her new position, Clara introduced sweeping changes to improve the efficiency of business processes and automate operations. These changes did not go down well with employees, leading to the dismissal of 50% of the workforce. For this, Furse earned Iron Woman status.
In 2000, Clara became a director of the London Stock Exchange. It was the first time a woman had taken the helm. At that time, Furse already had 20 years of experience in high positions. It should be noted that the company came to Clara with a lot of problems. At that time the exchange was in crisis, it miraculously avoided a takeover, and the management was regularly changed, notwithstanding the strain.
Furse managed to restore the position of the stock exchange in 8 years. The process from collapse to profitability was achieved through a clever strategy and tough decisions. In just one year of management, a woman changed the form of ownership of the company, and two years later she acquired a new company that transformed the exchange into a holding company. By 2007, revenues had grown significantly and operating profits had quadrupled. The London Stock Exchange took the lead in the number of initial public offerings.
One of the woman’s key principles is the ability to defend her point of view and always have a clear strategy. At the same time, Clara says that she does not mix professional and personal activities and that she only works in the time she has available.
Her professionalism and tenacity are appreciated by world experts, and she is included in the list of the best traders in the world.
