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Liv Garfield, the chief executive of Severn Trent has been named Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the year.
The 42-year-old is the youngest ever female heading up a FTSE 100 company and was praised by judges for her strong focus on customers and her business acumen.
She took over the helm at the water company in 2014, having previously held the role of chief executive of Openreach, part of the BT Group, where she was responsible for the rollout of BT’s fibre network across the UK.
The award organisers said Garfield has “shepherded strong growth” for Severn Trent, which it highlighted is “strongly outperforming” the rest of the sector.
“She has also helped forge a customer-focused culture in the company, reflected in its outperforming challenging targets set by customers themselves.
“It was this commitment to customers combined with a responsible business that made her stand out,” they said.
Ofwat confirmed in December last year that Severn Trent would benefit from financial incentives for outperformance.
The company performed better than expected in reducing sewer flooding, which together with its performance in other areas, resulted in a net outperformance payment of £38.4 million.
The regulator agreed Severn Trent’s proposals to only take £11.4 million of the payment this year.
On receiving the prestigious accolade, Garfield said: “This is an incredible honour, not only because I remember taking a huge amount of inspiration from some of the previous winners of this award but also because of the awesome story of Madame Clicquot herself, who was a strong role model at a time when women in business were almost unheard of.
“I truly am delighted but also a little humbled – I know I wouldn’t have been able to win this award without the help and support of absolutely everyone at Severn Trent who works to keep customers’ water flowing every second of every day, so this is as much a win for them as it is for me.”
Garfield follows in the footsteps of female business leaders including Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and leading architect Dame Zaha Hadid.
Ruth Chapman, founder of Matches Fashion was this year’s runner-up.
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