The A-List: 2008

Job

Global innovation director

Company

Diageo

Work Telephone

I don't have a phone at work my PA does.

Address

Lakeside Drive, Park Royal, London, NW10 7HQ

Fantasy business partner

Andy Fennell (luckily for me, its not a fantasy).

How do you off-set your carbon footprint?

One of my closest friends runs the World Wildlife Fund.

Greatest influence

My values.

Clubs

Wacl, MGGB.

Favourite gadget

Don't do gadgets.

Desert island objects

Rog, Jake and Alexa.

Most-admired politician

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Now that's leadership!

Favourite media

The West Wing, Vanity Fair.

Biggest risk taken

Finding out six weeks after moving from Boston to London that I was losing my job in the sale of Allied to Punch, and having the move to a new industry, new country and new culture turn out fantastically.

Perfect day

Any day with my husband and children.

Who should play you in the film of your life?

Tom Hanks in drag.

Career highlights

Started in university administration, then did a Harvard MBA; seven years at Gillette; general manager with Holson Burnes; Allied Domecq Retail; Diageo for the past eight years.

Fictional hero

The Ya Ya Sisterhood.

Hidden talent

Pottery.

Best job outside advertising

The one I'm doing now.

Lowdown

A juggling working mother who is irked by the lack of senior role models for women. Works hard at retaining her American accent: "Please run me down in the parking lot if I start saying 'bloody hell'." Her favourite tipple? Gordon's and tonic.

Most expensive purchase

A bathroom vanity that my daughter refers to as "the car she never got".

Why are you good at what you do?

Leadership? of people who are better than me.