Gillian Tett is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 author and award-winning journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 at the Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

, where she is the US managing editor
She has written about the financial instruments that were part of the cause of the financial crisis that started in the fourth quarter of 2007, such as CDOs

Collateralized debt obligation

Collateralized debt obligations are a type of structured asset-backed security with multiple "tranches" that are issued by special purpose entities and collateralized by debt obligations including bonds and loans. Each tranche offers a varying degree of risk and return so as to meet investor demand...

, credit default swap

Credit default swap

A credit default swap is similar to a traditional insurance policy, in as much as it obliges the seller of the CDS to compensate the buyer in the event of loan default...

s, SIVs

Structured investment vehicle

A structured investment vehicle was an operating finance company established to earn a spread between its assets and liabilities like a traditional bank...

, conduit

Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit

Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits, or "REMICs," are a type of special purpose vehicle used for the pooling of mortgage loans and issuance of mortgage-backed securities...

s, and SPVs.

Following a Ph.D. in social anthropology at Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

 based on field research in the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Tett moved to a career in journalism while doing fieldwork in Soviet-influenced Central Asia and joined the Financial Times in 1993. She worked in the former Soviet Union and in Europe and was posted to Tokyo in 1997, where she later became bureau chief.In 2003 Tett became deputy head of the influential Lex column.

Tett predicted the financial crisis in 2006. Her 2009 book Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe was widely reviewed throughout the English-speaking world

English-speaking world

The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...

 and won the Spear's Book Award for the financial book of 2009.

In 2011, Tett was awarded a President’s Medal by the British Academy. She was previously recognized as Journalist of the Year (2009) and Business Journalist of the Year (2008) by the British Press Awards, as well as Senior Financial Journalist of the Year (2007) by the Wincott Awards.

In 2010 The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...

asked "Is Gillian Tett The Most Powerful Woman in Newspapers?"

Awards

• 2007 Wincott prize for financial journalism (capital markets coverage)
• 2008 Business Journalist of the Year (British Press Awards)
• 2009 Journalist of the Year (British Press Awards)
• 2009 Financial Book of the Year (for her book Fool's Gold)
• 2011 British Academy President's Medal

Books

• Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe ISBN 978-1408701645 (in some markets called Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dreams of a Small Tribe at J.P Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe ISBN 978-1416598572)
• Saving the Sun: How Wall Street Mavericks Shook Up Japan's Financial World and Made Billions (ISBN 978-0060554255).