Vanessa Audi Rhys O’Brien

Profile

After 3,729 days, Vanessa became the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea and air. Amidst the Great Recession, Vanessa left banking to embrace exploration, never expecting she would become one of the world’s greatest living female explorers. She is the first American or British woman to successfully summit K2, the first woman to traverse the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and the fastest woman to summit the highest mountain on every continent, in 295 days. Vanessa is the 8th woman in the world to climb the seven summits and ski to both the north and south poles, and the 77th woman to fly to space.

For contributions to humanitarian causes Vanessa was made a Dame of the Order of Malta in 2023. For advancing science during exploration and inspiring women in sports, Vanessa earned 6 Guinness World Records (GWR), is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, was recognized by the New York State Assembly, received the Fearless Girl Award, and became Explorer of the Year by the Scientific and Exploration Society, where she serves as a Honorary Advisory Board Member.

She is an enthusiastic, decisive and driven leader with a proven track record delivering business results. She is a key contributor in forming and achieving strategic goals and objectives, with demonstrable ability building and directing diverse, multi-cultural teams focused on the delivering commercial objectives. She is the recipient of GE’s Pinnacle Award for Outstanding Achievement and Bank of America’s Spirt Award for exhibiting behaviours of Excellence and demonstrating Core Values in serving customers, communities and shareholders.

Exploration Experience

Global | 2010-Present

LAND, SEA AND AIR

  • First Woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air.
  • First Woman to reach Earth’s Highest (Mt. Everest) and Deepest Point (Challenger Deep).
  • Fastest Woman to climb the highest peak on every continent, the Seven Summits in 295 days.
  • First Person to reach the Farthest (Chimborazo) and Nearest to Earth’s core (Challenger Deep).
  • First woman to traverse the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH / SPEAKING

  • Evaluated high-altitude medicine to find correlations to kidney stones, sampled and photographed receding glaciers, tested hypoxic exposure using acclimatization tents, and sampled oceans to test rising acidification. Wore a bullet proof vest to test Kevlar, agreeing to be shot at point blank range. Measured the brain’s response to viewing earth from outer space using a wireless MRI headset.
  • Registered speaker with the American Program Bureau to major corporates, academics, military, not-for-profit, and the public sector since 2013. Guest lecturer at Boston College.

BRAND AMBASSADOR (print ads, commercial films and expeditions)

  • Omega– Blue Origin’s first flight and Challenger Deep’s first dive with two women.
  • UN Women– Proving women have no ceilings during space and showing women can summit K2.
  • Aviva –trusting instincts, dealing with procrastination, and how to follow your head and heart.
  • Diageo – Jane Walker/Be First, Keep Walking – proving women can rise to the challenge.
  • Charles Schwab– Why This Road #Own Your Tomorrow –ensure you are on the right path.

Corporate Experience

INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURES LTD | Hong Kong | 2007-2009

Managing Director
Established and managed a credit card consultancy business to advise commercial banks on portfolio acquisitions, revenue-enhancement strategies, consumer-account acquisitions, and partnerships and alliances.

  • Provident Financial plc, a UK FTSE 250 Firm | London, UK
    • Generated commercial agreements worth 10% of new account acquisitions; Partnerships 50% of all new accounts.
    • Expedited receivable growth through deal origination, valuation, due diligence and contract negotiations,
      representing 14% to 130% in receivables growth over existing boo.
  • CompuCredit Corporation | London, UK
    • Provided due diligence on the acquisition of the Monument credit card portfolio with over 500,000 accounts
      and £490m of credit card receivables from Barclays Bank.

BANK OF AMERICA | London, UK | 2006-2007

Commercial Director, European Card Services
Led marketing programs for strategic business partners in the lifestyle, retail and financial services sectors.

  • Secured 50% of Card Services’ new accounts across its 850 core endorsed affinity relationships.
  • Championed negotiation of all core affinity partnership contracts and compensation models.
  • Increased bench strength by recruiting 50% of all 2006 relationship associates.

BARCLAYS, PLC | London, UK | 2002-2005

Finance Director
A member of the Group Finance Executive for financial services group operating in 60+ countries with market capitalization of £38B.

  • Fully accountable for short-term planning process, delivering a 2-year budget commitment.
  • Integral in driving Barclays to rank top within its TSR peer group by end of 2004, with TSR of 23%, nearly double the average for its peer group and the FTSE 100 index.
  • Implemented Investment Appraisal Centre of Excellence for all strategic projects as Barclaycard Operating Committee Chair, increasing return on investments (ROI).
  • Delivered 15% economic profit growth by enhancing Barclaycard Merchant Services’ customer value proposition and operational efficiency.

MORGAN STANLEY | London, UK | 1999-2002

Executive Director, Franchise Management
Served on the Consumer Banking Group International management committee with mandate to launch an international credit card on behalf of Discover Financial Services.

  • Instrumental in fast-tracking launch of UK credit card within 12 months, capturing 8% market share of receivables growth and 9% market share of total account growth year over year (YoY).
  • Assessed new markets by defining market-entry strategies based on earnings potential, presence, regulatory climate and investment horizon. Prioritized investment decisions based on net present value (NPV) to ensure investments achieved risk-adjusted rates of return.

Additional Experience

  • Capital One, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis | Falls Church, VA | 1998-1999
  • Chancellor LGT Asset Management, Vice President, Finance | New York, NY | 1997-1998
  • GE Capital Services, Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis | Stamford, CT | 1992-1997
  • U.S. Department of Commerce, Intern | New York, NY | 1991-1991
  • Harold D. Baker & Co., Inc., Real Estate Administration | New York, NY | 1989-1992
  • Altman & Manley, Gallagher Advertising, Accountant | Boston, MA | 1985-1989
  • Johnstone & Johnstone, Inc., Real Estate Administration | Grosse Pointe, MI | 1983-1985

Education

  • Executive MBA in Finance, Stern School of Business, 1995-1997
  • Bachelor of Arts in Economics, New York University, 1989-1991

Nationality

United States and United Kingdom