[3] She graduated with a BA in economics (double first) from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, then an MA in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania, followed by an MBA from INSEAD in France.
She worked with companies in sectors including brewing, DIY retailing, computer services, investment management and newspapers, advising on mergers, business expansion, cost control and global competitiveness.
In 2002/3, she created and launched Freeview – a joint venture between the BBC, Sky and Arqiva, which became one of the UK's most successful new television services.
[5] On 6 October 2004, the BBC announced that Fairbairn and her husband had "decided to take time out from their careers to spend a year travelling around the world with their three children".
[5] On 24 July 2013 David Currie, the chairman-designate of the new Competition and Markets Authority, announced Fairbairn's appointment as a non-executive director.
[8][9] In June 2015, it was announced that she would replace John Cridland in November as director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, as a result of which she would resign all other positions aside from her chair of the charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care.