Helen Fraser (executive)

Fraser was born on 8 June 1949.[1] Her father was George Sutherland Fraser, the poet and literary critic.[2] She was educated at the Collegiate Girls' School, an all-girls grammar school in Leicester.[3] She studied English language and literature at St Anne's College, Oxford, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1970; as per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.[1][4]

After graduating from university in 1970, Fraser spent nine months teaching English in Paris, France. She then went travelling in Southeast Asia with the money she had earned teaching.[4]

In 1972, Fraser joined Methuen Publishing as a "trainee-cum-secretary".[1][4] By her second year with the company she was commissioning books; one of her first was The Novels of Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee.[4][5] In 1974, she left Methuen to start an independent publishing company with two colleagues: it was called Open Books, specialised in academic works, and was funded by Mitchell Beazley.[1][4] Mitchell Beazley withdrew their funding from the company in 1976.[4]

In 1976, Fraser joined Fontana as a non-fiction editor.[4] She helped edit the Fontana Modern Masters alongside the series editor Frank Kermode.[4] In 1981, she was promoted to editorial director at William Collins, the parent company of Fontana.[1][3][4] She was made head of Flamingo, the "literary paperback list", and also became involved in hardback publishing in 1986.[4] She was fired from William Collins in 1987.[1][4]

Fraser joined Heinemann in 1987 as a publisher.[3][4] She moved to its subsidiary Reed Trade Books in 1992 as publishing director before being appointed managing director in 1996.[3] She moved to Penguin Books in January 1997 as managing director of its general division.[1][4] In 2001, she was appointed managing director of Penguin UK.[1] She stepped down from that role in 2009.[3]

In January 2010, Fraser became the chief executive officer of the Girls' Day School Trust, a group of private schools in England and Wales.[1][6] She retired in August 2016.[6] She was succeeded as CEO by Cheryl Giovannoni.[7]

On 15 April 1982, Fraser married Grant James McIntyre.[3] Together they have four children: two daughters and two step daughters.[1]

Fraser is an Anglican Christian. From 2013 to 2018 she served as a churchwarden of St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London.[1][8]

In the 2010 New Year Honours, Fraser was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to the publishing industry".[9] On 14 July 2010, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree by the University of Bristol.[2] In the 2017 New Year Honours, she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for "services to education", thereby granting her the title dame.[10]