Biography
Jane joined Christie’s in 1988. She was quickly appointed to the 20th Century Decorative Arts department as a specialist where she worked for seven years. During that time she developed many sales categories including Lalique Glass, Art Deco Sculpture and Clarice Cliff pottery.
In 1995 Jane was promoted to Head of Department for Ceramics and Glass and was one of the firm’s leading female auctioneers.
In 1998 she moved into the Old Master Paintings department as Business Manager. Two years later she was promoted to International Business Director for the firm’s Old Master & 19th Century Paintings and Drawings Division, which within a year had expanded to encompass Furniture and Decorative Arts. She had executive responsibility for creating the strategy of both divisions and for executing and maintaining all aspects of the plan on a global basis. There are many highlights from this period of her career, notably the famous series of Rothschild sales and the sale of the Badminton Cabinet, an 18th century masterpiece which twice achieved the status of the most expensive piece of furniture in the world when it was sold in 1990, and again in 2004.
In 2002, Jane was appointed Managing Director of Christie’s UK. As Managing Director she was responsible for the leadership and management of the core sales categories in the UK and the business development functions supporting those sales, which take place in London at King Street St James and Old Brompton Road South Kensington. This was a significant portion of Christie’s business and by 2012 comprised total revenues of approximately £220m a year, supported by a staff of 200 under Jane’s leadership.
During that time Christie’s South Kensington underwent a major strategic review and completely refocussed on their customer experience, which resulted in expanding the opening hours to seven days a week, refurbishment of the building, improving customer service at all levels and refining the selections of works on offer. This doubled sales revenue over 10 years and was the foundation of today’s transformed business.
After 16 years immersed in the auction business Jane was appointed International Managing Director of Christie’s Education in 2012, stepping down from her role as Managing Director of Christie’s UK in 2014. Since that time Christie’s Education has successfully launched new master’s degrees in Art, Law and Business first in London and then in New York, and will offer a Masters of Fine Art in Curating Contemporary Art from 2017. In addition there has been an expansion of continuing education globally including notable partnership programmes with the China Europe International Business School of Shanghai, the Cheung Kong Business School of Beijing, and Hong Kong University.
During her career at Christie’s Jane also served for five years as chair of the Christie’s Pension Scheme and currently is a trustee of the Christie’s Employee Trust and the Christie’s Education Trust which offers bursaries to students who otherwise would not have the funds to study.
Jane has a BA (Hons) degree in History with Economics from The University of Manchester and an MA (Hons) in African History and African Art from The School of Oriental and African Studies in London.