Dame Ann Heron Gloag DBE

Dame Ann Heron Gloag DBE (born 1942) is a Scottish billionaire, businesseswoman and philantropist. Data from 2017 show Gloag’s net worth as 1.49 billion USD.

She is a self-made billionaire, as the co-founder of the transport company Stagecoach Group. Gloag, who is one of the wealthiest women in Scotland, lives in Kinfauns Castle, a 19th century Gothic-style castle in Scotland.

Gloag co-funded the Stagecoach Group in 1980 together with her brother Brian Souter and her then-husband Robin Gloag, using her father’s redundancy money after he had lost his job as a bus driver. Initially only running a line between Dundee and London, the company gradually expanded to may other parts of the UK and came to include not just buses and express coaches, but also trains and trams. The Stagecoach Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:SGC) and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

In November 2013, Gloag took ownership of Kent International Airport (Manston Airport), paying a symbolic £1. In April 2014, management announced a consultation on closure, and the airport was closed the following month.

Gloag is an active member in the Church of the Nazarene.

Short facts about Ann Gloag

Original name: Ann Heron Souter

Current name: Ann Heron Gloag

Born: 10 December, 1942 in Perth, Scotland, UK

Education: Perth High School (nurse program)

Residence: Kinfauns Castle, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK

Spouse: Robin Gloag (divorced); David McCleary (married in 1990)

Children: Jonathan Gloag (died in 1999)

Philantrophy

Ann Gloag is a signer of The Giving Pledge.

Ann Gloag has created The Gloag Foundation to support projects that prevent or relieve poverty, and encourage the advancement of education, health and religion in the UK and overseas.

A lot of Gloag’s philantrophy is focused on health issues, which is unsurprising since she is a nurse (educated at Perth High School) and worked for 20 years at a burn unit. Two of her health-related philanthrophy projects are the Freedome From Fistual Foundation and her support for Mercy Ships.

Gloag founded the Freedom From Fistula Foundation in 2008. The charity helps women and girls by providing free surgical fistula treatment. Obstetric fistula a condition that can be caused by prolonged or obstructed childbirth. The organization also provides maternity care to prevent fistulas from happening in the first place. The three main focus countries for the organization is Sierra Leone, Malawi and Madagascar. Gloag was the executive producer of Shout Gladi Gladi, a documentary film about obstetric fistula in Africa.

Gloag is a trustee with the charity Mercy Ships. She has served on the Mercy Ships UK and International boards for over a decade, and was a driving force behind the creation of the floating hospital Africa Mercy.

Gloag became an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004, and in the 2019 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her business and charitable work in the UK and abroad. In 2009, she was admitted into the Order of the Star of Africa with the grade of Commander, in recognition of her support for the people and the country of Liberia.