Liv Garfield


Olivia "Liv" Ruth Garfield is a British businesswoman. She is the chief executive of Severn Trent, and formerly the chief executive of Openreach, a BT Group business.

Early life

Olivia was raised in Harrogate. Her parents, who were originally from Liverpool, run a project management and engineering business in Harrogate. Her grandfather was the groundsman at Goodison Park. She was educated at Birklands Belmont School in Birstwith near Harrogate, followed by the co-educational Bootham School, an independent school in York. She had an ambition to be a presenter of Blue Peter. She read German and French at the all-female New Hall, Cambridge, now Murray Edwards.

Career

After graduating, she spent a year working at the British Consulate in Brussels. She then worked at Accenture as a consultant in their communications and high-tech market division for six years.

BT

In January 2003, she joined BT as general manager, running a desk-based sales team. She later became BT's director of strategy and regulatory affairs. On 1 April 2011 she was made chief executive of their Openreach division; Openreach had been formed in 2006. In that position, she spearheaded and oversaw the £2.5 billion rollout of fibre broadband to two thirds of the UK. In March 2017, BT received the biggest Ofcom fine ever due to inappropriate use of the Deemed Consent to delay Ethernet provision to other providers, which started while she was CEO. In 2013, Garfield was identified by Fortune Magazine as one of the world's fastest-rising corporate stars. In 2014, Fortune called her the 14th Most Powerful Woman in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Severn Trent

In April 2014, she became the chief executive of Severn Trent. In July 2015, while she was the chief executive of Severn Trent she oversaw the takeover of Severn Trent Water Purification, a subsidiary of Severn Trent Plc, by Italian company DeNora which resulted in redundancies. Then in November 2017, the company announced plans to sell its surplus land. As of May 2018, Garfield's role at Severn Trent made her the youngest female CEO of a FTSE 100 company.

Tesco

In February 2013, she became a non-executive director at Tesco. She stepped down in February 2015.
In May 2018, Garfield was announced as the 2018 winner of the prestigious Veuve Cliquot Business Woman Award.

Personal life

Her husband Morgan Garfield, whom she met at university when he was at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, runs a property investment fund. She has two sons and a sister and brother. She married in 2002 in North Yorkshire.