EDWINA DUNN
F4D’S WOMEN’S CHAMPION AWARD
Edwina Dunn is CEO at Starcount, a consumer insights company that combines the science of purchase and intent and brings the voice of the customer into the boardroom.
Commercial Background
Edwina joined CACI as a graduate and spent the early part of her career working on geo-spatial data, creating site location models for retailers.
She went on to found dunnhumby with her partner, Clive Humby. The business focused on the application of customer data to understand and predict consumer trends and behaviors. At that time, customer data was not valued or stored but simply discarded, following a transaction. Their plans and original database design brought radically new capabilities to consumer businesses around the world. In 1995, Tesco embraced the dunnhumby approach for its Clubcard program and so it became the first mass customization marketing program in the world. Customer insight and Clubcard rewards helped to transform Tesco from a secondary player in the UK, to the significant market and global leader it is today. Edwina was responsible for the company commercially, guiding the company into new sectors and markets. As well as growing dunnhumby’s own team to span 25 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas, Edwina worked closely with international clients to embed true customer-centricity in their organizations.
Skills & Interests
She has an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration, awarded by Derby University, and also an Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University. She was invited to become an Honorary Fellow of Cambridge University, Lucy Cavendish College in 2014, and was made an Honorary Fellow and Patron of the Market Research Society (for her knowledge of data and best practice Data Privacy and Security).
She is also a Trustee of the Science Museum Foundation and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Direct & Digital Marketing.
From 2014 to the end of 2017, she was Chair of Government backed and Private Sector Sponsored “Your Life Campaign” (a Community Interest Company), which seeks to promote the STEM subjects to 14-16 year olds across the UK. Future Finder is the legacy technology created and represents the biggest free Careers Advice app in the market today.
She is Founder of The Female Lead : a nonprofit organization dedicated to offering alternative role models to those ever-present in popular culture and which gives women a platform to share their inspirational stories. The Female Lead: Women Who Shape Our World was published by Penguin Random House in February, 2017, and is being donated to 18,000 schools across the UK and USA to inspire the next generation of female leaders.
http://www.thefemalelead.com/
She served as Non-Executive Director of HMRC for three years since 2015, with an expert focus on Data and Digital Transformation (including Customer/Citizen Charter & Data Sharing Best Practice).