Thanks to Claudio Piombetti of Stanwell, Middx, England

Barbara Casssani, is "working" chief exec of London's 2012 Olympic Bid.

Ms. Cassani has had high ambitions since her middle-class childhood in Boston and San Francisco. Growing up, she cleaned houses and worked at a Burger King -- to pay for things like the feeding and upkeep of her own horse.

After graduating magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke (now one of it's trustees), with a major in international relations, her next stop was the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Having completed her master's degree in public affairs there, Ms. Cassani joined the firm of Coopers & Lybrand (now Pricewaterhouse Coopers) in Washington, D.C., as a consultant in its international division.

She then moved to the firm's offices in London. A newspaper advertisement for a job in sales and marketing led Cassani to a swift ascension through the managerial ranks of British Airways.

Then, after she turned around a small European airline, Ms. Cassani was tapped by Robert J. Ayling, the president of British Airways,to write a business plan for a low-cost airline, "Go Fly", and run it.

In a Britain, where executives like to be addressed as "Mr.", Ms. Cassani is always "Barbara," casual, chatty and warm. She is the mother of two children, aged 4 and 7, and drives a Volvo. "I'm a pretty strict mother," she said. "Very little junk food and no TV. I import tapes from the U.S. My dad tapes PBS and sends them over." Cassani is married to Guy Davis, "a Brit," an investment banker in the London office of Wasserstein Perella, whom she met while at Princeton.

Cassani, recently voted UK businesswoman of the year, was also winner of the 2002 Veuve Clicquot's businesswoman of the year award, (previously won by Pearson's Marjorie Scardino), and named by Wall Street Journal Europe naming Cassani one
of Europe's twenty-five most successful businesswomen, ranking her as number six.

Ms. Cassani denies that being a woman in a male-dominated industry has been difficult. She does however admit that it is slightly annoying to be singled out as a female success story rather than a success story per se. "I work with a whole bunch of men who should get as much credit as I'm doing" she says.

"I take fairness in the workplace and equal salaries very seriously," she says, but adds that many of her male peers do likewise. "I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist.. I judge people by how they behave." And she attributes her success to her irreverent and informal manner rather than her gender. Older men carry a lot of baggage of what society expects, she explains, they feel that success follows on from being formal and following set rules.
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Barbara A. Cassani Leads London's 2012 Olympic  Bid
London bid hits leader trouble

The Guardian
Duncan Mackay
Thursday June 12, 2003

Confusion surrounded who would lead London's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games after the interview panel yesterday spoke to a man who claimed not to be interested in the role (Charles Allen, a former chairman of Granada). It then tried to change the mind of a man who does want the job but believes he does not to have the time to do it.(Gerry Robinson, chairman of the Arts Council, and also a former chairman of Granada).

...There is a growing belief within government circles that Allen could be persuaded to take on the role, which will require at least two days a week, and work in tandem with Barbara Cassani, the founder of the low-cost airline Go, as chief executive. Cassani is highly regarded by all three of the bid's stakeholders - the government, the Greater London Authority and the British Olympic Association -but the fact that she is an American is believed to count against her when it comes to appointing her as chairwoman. Working in tandem with Allen might be the perfect solution. He could front the bid while Cassani could carry out the day-to-day tasks that will be required...

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Olympics | London bid hits leader trouble
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/olympics/story/0,10308,975587,00.html
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References:
Barbara Cassani '82 Named Business Woman of the Year
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/050302/cassani.shtml
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SPRING 2000, VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3,SPECIAL EDITION
MHC Vista: Barbara Cassani '82
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/vista/0002/cassani.shtml
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By Briony Hale
BBC News Online business reporter
BBC News | BUSINESS | Go founder named high flyer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1943407.stm
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By Business Weekly
Cassani to quit on takeover http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?article_id=6565
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Princeton Press Release 9/19/99 New York Times Article GO Airlines Homepage
Princeton Press Release
Nurturing a No-Frills Airline
Princeton eClub - Speakers Series
http://www.princeton.edu/eclub/speakers/GO_Airlines.html