Jane Shepherdson
Jane Elizabeth ShepherdsonCBE (born 23 August 1961 in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire) is an English businesswoman,. As of 2016 she was the chief executive of UK clothing brand Whistles, and had been the brand director for high-street women's wear store TopShop.
She grew up in Bristol where her father was head of the mathematics department at the university, and her mother was a biochemist. She was educated at Clifton High School, where she began customising her clothes. She studied Business Studies at the University of North London, joining the Burton Group (now the Arcadia Group), after being inspired by her mother's story of a fashion buyer friend.
Shepherdson started as a warehouse picker sending stock to stores, and was then promoted to become a buyer in the jersey department. She ordered a shipment of tank tops, of which 500,000 were sold in a week. Her initiatives at TopShop included:
TopShop Freshers' Week party - to attract teenaged customers
TopShop To Go - delivering items from a list of 100
