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Dame Ann Heron Gloag DBE (née Souter; born 10 December 1942) is a Scottish businesswoman, activist, and charity campaigner. She is co-founder of the transport company Stagecoach Group.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2024, Gloag and her brother, Sir Brian Souter, are worth £815 million, an increase of £35 million from the previous year.

In January 2023, Gloag, with her husband and two other family members, was charged with criminal offences involving human trafficking. She disputed the charges, which were later dropped.

Biography

Gloag was educated at Caledonian Road Primary School and Perth High School. She later qualified as a nurse and during a 20-year career worked as a burn unit sister. She is ranked as Scotland's richest woman. Gloag is a trustee of charity Mercy Ships and was involved in its creation of a hospital ship.

Stagecoach

Using her father (a bus driver)'s redundancy money, and working with her brother, Brian Souter, and her first husband, Robin, Gloag established the Stagecoach Group in 1980, running buses from Dundee to London. Expansion continued and in the early 1990s, Stagecoach acquired National Bus Company operations in Cumberland, Hampshire, East Midlands: Ribble, Southdown and the United Counties. Stagecoach bought further bus operations in Scotland, Newcastle and London, with Manchester being added in 1993.

Manston Airport

In November 2013, Gloag took ownership of Kent International Airport, also known as Manston Airport, for the sum of £1. Gloag's co-director is Pauline Bradley, a corporate lawyer and former head of joint ventures at Bank of Scotland, described by The Herald as "one of Scotland's most powerful women".

Despite assurances to staff on the long-term investment in the airport, management announced a consultation on closure in April 2014. Uncertainty about the airport's future led flight operators that were using Manston to leave, notably KLM, which was running a twice-daily service to Amsterdam Schiphol. A number of bids were forthcoming during the consultation period to buy and run the airport, but, on 15 May 2014, Manston was closed with the loss of 144 jobs in the airport and an unknown number in the surrounding area. Gloag did not appear publicly or give a reason for the airport's closure or her refusal to sell.

The trade union Unite said it would challenge the way the consultation on closure was conducted. Sir Roger Gale, Member of Parliament for Thanet North, described Gloag's actions as an act of "corporate vandalism".

As of 2016, Gale and pressure groups including Save Manston Airport and Why Not Manston? continue to campaign for the reopening of the airport and have opposed alternative uses. In May 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron, in answer to a question from Gale in the Houses of Commons, stated that the future of Manston was the responsibility of the airport owner, but the Government was in negotiation with Gloag. In July 2017, planning inspectors rejected an appeal stating that the site was protected for aviation use under EC4 regulations.

Personal life

Gloag has owned Beaufort Castle near Inverness since 1995, and Kinfauns Castle, near Perth since 2004. She has attempted to block off private access at Kinfauns. On 12 June 2007, a court ruled that she was legally entitled to bar the public from an area of woodland in the grounds of Kinfauns Castle.

Gloag's ex-husband, Robin, father of her late son, Jonathan, was killed in a car crash on 6 December 2007. Their 28-year-old son, Jonathan, hanged himself in Deuchny Wood in 1999. In 1990, Gloag married David McCleary, a widower and a successful owner of multiple businesses, who was previously an organist and minister at the local Church of the Nazarene.

A member of the Church of the Nazarene, Gloag founded the Freedom From Fistula Foundation. After meeting Adam Friedman, she became executive producer of Shout Gladi Gladi, a documentary film explaining the medical and social issues surrounding obstetric fistula in Africa. She also supports international aid charities and has adopted a Kenyan boy, Peter, now aged 30, as well as a 6-year-old Kenyan grandson.

On 20 January 2023, the BBC reported that, together with her husband and two other family members, Gloag had been charged with criminal offences involving human trafficking. She disputed the charges. In October 2024, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service announced that the charges against all four defendants had been dropped and no further action would be taken.

Awards and recognitions

Gloag was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services to business and to philanthropy; she had previously been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours for charitable services.

References

1. Sleeman, Elizabeth (2001). The International Who's Who of Women 2002. Psychology Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-85743-122-3.
2. Times, The Sunday. "Rich List 2024". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
3. "Overview of Ann Heron Gloag". Scottish-places.info. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
4. ^ "Mercy Ships Trustee honoured by Queen". Mercy Ships. 29 December 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
5. "Manston Airport sold to Stagecoach founder for £1". bbc.co.uk. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
6. Pauline Bradley. "Pauline Bradley: Executive Profile". Investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
7. "Head of joint ventures at BoS quits to join Kenmore". The Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. 19 January 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
8. Archived 21 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ Price, Chris (15 May 2014). "Manston airport: Dramatic last-minute offer to buy Thanet site by US group RiverOak rejected as staff leave for last time". Kent Online. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
10. Smith, Oliver (17 May 2014). "Manston Airport closure 'bizarre', says union". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
11. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 May 2014 (pt 0001)". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
12. Pyman, Tom. "War of words continues as planning chiefs refuse change of use of buildings at Manston airport". Kentnews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
13. "The Scotsman". Thescotsman.scotsman.com. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
14. "Tycoon launches court access bid". BBC News. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
15. Carrell, Severin (14 June 2007). "Multimillionaire uses financial muscle to bar ramblers from woods". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
16. "Gloag's ex-husband dies in crash". BBC News. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
17. "Gloag son's mourners told of close family ties" – The Herald, 23 September 1999
18. ^ "Jonathan Gloag had it all. It wasn't enough". The Independent. 21 September 1999. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
19. "Tayside Police launch abuse handling investigation". The Scotsman. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
20. "Stagecoach co-founder Dame Ann Gloag charged with human trafficking offences". BBC News. 21 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
21. Pollock, Laura (10 October 2024). "No further action on trafficking charges against Stagecoach founder Ann Gloag". The National.
22. "No. 62507". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2018. p. N7.
23. "Honour for Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag - Stagecoach Group". m.stagecoach.com. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
24. United Kingdom list: "No. 57315". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2004. p. 10.

External links

• Profile, Scottish-places.info; accessed 10 December 2015

• 1942 births
• Living people
• British public transport executives
• Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• People from Perth, Scotland
• People in bus transport
• Scottish company founders
• Scottish billionaires
• Scottish nurses
• Stagecoach Group
• Scottish members of the Church of the Nazarene
• Scottish women in business
• People educated at Perth High School
• 21st-century British philanthropists