Caroline Jane Knight
Our Founder & Chair
Caroline is the fifth great niece of Jane Austen, and is the last of Jane’s nieces to grow up in Chawton House, in the South of England, on the family’s ancestral estates where Jane herself lived, wrote and published her most famous works.
Until she was 18, Caroline lived in the Great House in Chawton, the country manor belonging to Jane's brother Edward, which has been passed from one generation to the next since 1588. Following a childhood steeped in centuries of tradition and her great Aunt Jane's legacy, Caroline was determined to be independent and became a successful businesswoman and social entrepreneur.
Caroline was appointed CEO of DemoPlus in Australia in 2009. She has sat on the boards of Life Education Victoria and the Australian Institute of Management, and in 2012 Caroline was nominated as a finalist in the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Awards. In 2015 Caroline was Chair of the Australian Institute of Management National Excellence Awards' judging panel (not for profit).
Caroline has unique insight into the life, works and family of a literary icon. The worldwide celebrations of the 200-year anniversary of Pride & Prejudice in 2013 inspired Caroline to establish the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation to harness the passion for Jane Austen and support the practice of literacy across the world, in honour of Jane.