Samsung’s UK boss keeps a signed $100 bill she’s never allowed to spend—and shares her best and worst investments

Just one conversation can make or break an entire career. Take Annika Bizon. She is one of Samsung’s most influential U.K. executives right now.As vice president across the U.K. and Ireland, the 47-year-old is helping steer one of the world’s biggest technology brands through the AI boom. She also sits on Meta’s advisory board. And it all traces back to a chance encounter with a client.Bizon’s work ethic began long before the smartphone era.

“At sixteen, my parents made it clear, if I wanted spending money, I had to earn it,” Bizon tells Fortune. It spurred her to get a job at two local shoe shops on the weekend—one selling high end footwear, the other more every day wear. “By the time summer rolled around, I’d earned enough trust that the owners left me in charge of running both,” she adds.

Not bad for a Saturday job. From there, Bizon took a business and economics degree at Aberystwyth University before moving into recruitment marketing—and it was there that she got her break.

A meeting with the CMO of Universal Pictures that was meant to be a routine conversation about outsourcing ended with a job offer she hadn’t seen coming. 

What followed was nearly fifteen years scaling one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies—from the decline of physical media and the rise of streaming, to commercial director—all while building a life to match. A first London flat bought at auction for £175,000, deposit split across two credit cards. A converted barn in the countryside. A husband, two daughters, a dog named Wilbur, and skiing in Avoriaz every year. She joined Samsung in 2021 and has since collected four promotions, landing at VP—a milestone she marked the only way that felt right: a second-hand Chanel handbag she’d had her eye on for years.

Today, Bizon is at the center of arguably the biggest shift in consumer technology since the smartphone itself. Since launching in the U.K. in 2024, Samsung’s Galaxy AI has outpaced the early adoption of the internet, reaching nearly five million British users in its first year alone. Globally, it sits on 400 million devices, on track to reach 800 million by the end of this year. In February, Samsung launched the Galaxy S26 Series—its most advanced AI phone yet—and Bizon is the person making sure British consumers want one.

Fortune’s series, The Good Life, shows how up-and-coming leaders spend their time and money outside of work. 

Being in the C-suite is a high-pressure job with long hours, board responsibilities, and intense scrutiny. But what is it like to be a top executive when you’re off the clock? Here’s what she told us.

What’s been the best investment you’ve ever bought? 

The best investment I ever made was my first flat in London. I bought it at auction for £175,000, put down a ten percent deposit split across two credit cards, and sold it four or five years later for around £350,000. I had nearly doubled my money in a handful of years, which felt extraordinary at the time.

My first car, an Austin Metro Vanden Plas, remains my worst investment. I bought it mostly for the interior but the engine fell apart........

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