Ann Cochrane Cook Wallace Budge
Career
Budge graduated with a psychology degree, and became the first woman appointed to a senior position in Scottish & Newcastle after starting her career there as a trainee programmer. After leaving F International – now
Xansa – Budge set up business working from home, and teaming up with Allison Newell in 1985, launched Newell & Budge, which specialised in making bespoke software and IT systems.
It was sold to the French IT company
Sopra Group for a reported £30 million, and Budge became a chief executive.
Recognition
Budge was awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Entrepreneurial Exchange in 2005
and was then inducted into the Entrepreneurial Exchange Hall of Fame in November 2013.
She is listed as a role model by the Women's Engineering Society.
She is an Honorary degree of Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh Napier University.
Football
Budge was disclosed as being the sole director of BIDCO 1874, a consortium trying to buy Edinburgh-based football club Hearts out of administration, in early 2014.
A majority shareholding in the club, which was previously owned by Lithuanian businesses run by
Vladimir Romanov, was sold to BIDCO 1874 in May 2014.
Budge made several changes at the club immediately after taking control, including the appointment of
Craig Levein as director of football and
Robbie Neilson as
head coach.
In 2016, Budge was awarded the Scottish Professional Football League CEO of the Year award.
On June 30th 2025, it was announced that Budge would step down as Chair of Hearts in December after 12 years of business association with the club.
