MANAGE COOKIES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Strategy & Business Development
David leads the strategy and business development team at BBC Studios and has led all recent major transactions and strategic insight for the company.
David joined the BBC in 2002 and has held a variety of roles since then. He oversaw the BBC's Commercial Review and was responsible for setting up and leading the Digital Media division of BBC Worldwide. He was also Commercial Director at the BBC Ventures Group, driving revenues from the BBC's commercial media services of BBC Broadcast, BBC Resources and Kingswood Ventures.
Before joining the BBC, David was co-founder and Finance Director of Dataroam, a wireless application service provider, and prior to this he held roles such as Group Development Manager at United News and Media PLC and Director of Business Planning at Singapore Telecom International Europe, working in the UK and European cable and telecoms industries.
Job Titles:
- HR Director
- Human Resources Director
- HR Director for BBC Studios
Jabbar is HR Director for BBC Studios, where he oversees all HR activity to support the business strategy.
Before joining the previous BBC Studios in 2016, Jabbar was Director of HR & OD at the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) for over 10 years, where he led a programme of transformational cultural change, building employee engagement, lowering sickness levels and establishing high standards of wellbeing and performance management. In 2014, this programme culminated in Cafcass being awarded an assessment from Ofsted of ‘Good with Outstanding Leadership.'
Before Cafcass Sardar was a senior HR professional within a number of large public sector organisations.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Producer
- Head of ScriptWorks
John Yorke is a drama producer, consultant and lecturer on all forms of storytelling. A former MD of Company Pictures where he Executive Produced Wolf Hall, he's worked as both Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production. As a commissioning Editor/Executive Producer, he championed British hits such as Life On Mars, The Street, Father Brown, Shameless, and Bodies, and in 2005 he created the BBC Writers' Academy. The author of Into The Woods - the best-selling book on how and why we tell stories, John is Visiting Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Financial Officer ( CFO ) at BBC Studios
Lorraine Burgess is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at BBC Studios. She joined the business as interim CFO in July 2021 and was confirmed in the permanent role in February 2022.
Reporting to BBC Studios' CEO, Tom Fussell, Lorraine sits on the Senior Executive Committee (SEC) and leads the overall financial strategy and teams for the BBC's commercial arm, as well as overseeing budgeting, reporting, business support and financial controls. She works closely with Fussell and the executive committee, as well as key BBC Group and external stakeholders, to shape strategy that will help BBC Studios deliver its significant commercial ambition.
Lorraine combines a strong finance background with extensive commercial, strategic and leadership experience in creative businesses. Prior to joining BBC Studios, Lorraine was MD of Green Door Pictures and its associated companies. She previously led Digital Operations, Commercial & Corporate Development for Endemol Shine Group and also held roles at Ingenious Media and Universal Pictures. Burgess built her early finance career across telecoms, banking and children's TV & licensing. Lorraine has a deep knowledge of production, distribution and brands globally.
Job Titles:
- President, UK Distribution and Chief Executive Officer, UKTV
Marcus is responsible for BBC Studios' TV sales in the UK and Ireland and for commercial broadcaster UKTV, which includes seven linear channels and streaming service UKTV Play.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer, Studios Productions
As Chief Operating Officer, BBC Studios Productions Martha works alongside the CEO of BBC Studios Productions, and with stakeholders across BBC Studios and the BBC Group, to deliver Studios Productions' ambitious growth plan and meet the needs of its wide pool of clients. She is also accountable for business operations and production across all BBC Studios Productions bases.
Martha joined BBC Studios in September 2021 from the Newen Group, France's largest producer-distributor of audio-visual content, where she was Director of International Operations. She was previously Chief Executive Officer, International Operations at Endemol Shine Group, where she had held a number of senior positions during her time with the company.
With a wealth of global commercial and operational experience, including senior roles with production houses 19 Entertainment and Fremantle, she provides key leadership and oversight of commercial and business development activities. Martha is a non-executive director of the PGA European Tour and chair of the remuneration committee.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Global Chief Operating Officer
As Chief Operating Officer Martyn is responsible for overseeing the company's legal and business affairs, global operations, compliance and risk, in addition to technology, transformation and property.
Appointed Chief Operating Officer in December 2021, Martyn was previously General Counsel for BBC Studios, having held the role for BBC Worldwide since 2011. Prior to this he led BBC Worldwide's Legal and Business Affairs teams, as Group Head and then Director. In these roles, he worked on the creation of partnerships such as BBC Books and 2entertain, the divestments of BBC Magazines and BBC Audiobooks, the re-structuring of joint ventures with Discovery, the financing and production of BBC Worldwide's slate of natural history feature films and the partnership between BBC America and AMC Networks.
Martyn has also worked in a variety of roles across the BBC, including as Head of Business Affairs, Radio & Music, Factual & Learning and News.
Job Titles:
- President, Brands & Licensing
As BBC Studios' President, Brands & Licensing, Nicki plays an integral role in BBC Studios' future ambitions, exploring digital growth opportunities for the business, looking at innovative licensing models and driving value from BBC Studios' IP.
Her remit includes oversight of BBC Studios world-class, award-winning marketing, branding and data teams who grow and develop the BBC brand internationally as well as the company's data strategy and Nicki also leads on the development and deepening of fan engagement of BBC Studios' franchise portfolio, which includes world-famous brands such as Doctor Who, Bluey, Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With The Stars, as well as BBC Earth
In April 2022, Nicki took on additional responsibility for the Consumer Products and Licensing (CP&L) division, driving global and digital growth across business areas including: licensed merchandise; digital and physical publishing; music publishing and licensing; live events and clips licensing operation BBC Motion Gallery, plus gaming and metaverse.
Appointed in 2020, Nicki re-joined the BBC from Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, where she had been CMO since 2017. In 2019 she was rewarded for her work there with the Digital Masters Award for Excellence in Marketing.
Prior to this Nicki spent a decade in senior marketing positions across the media sector, including the public service BBC and King Digital Entertainment. She started her career at Procter & Gamble in brand management, before joining McKinsey & Co. to work across a variety of consumer and media clients.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, Studios Productions
As CEO, Studios Productions, Ralph Lee has overall responsibility for BBC Studios Productions globally.
Ralph had 25 years' experience in the UK's television sector prior to joining BBC Studios. He was Acting Chief Creative Officer at Channel 4, where he also held a number of commissioning roles including Head of Factual and Head of Specialist Factual. During his tenure, the business enjoyed notable impact and awards for programmes which included: The Secret Life of Four Year Olds, Grayson Perry: All Man, Gogglebox, First Dates, Benefits Street, Richard III: the King in the Car Park, 24 Hours in Custody and Educating Yorkshire.
Prior to his commissioning roles Ralph was a Producer/Director of documentaries specialising in history, arts and biography working both at the BBC and in the independent sector.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, Global Distribution
Rebecca was appointed in March 2022 having previously held the post of President, BBC Studios Americas from June 2020, overseeing the strategy and performance of the company's commercial activities in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. In this role she was responsible for the launch of both documentary streaming service BBC Select and BBC Podcasts and in September, oversight of global digital news was added to her responsibilities.
Prior to joining BBC Studios - Americas, Rebecca served as Co-Head of Viacom's Awesomeness. Starting her career at Unapix films Rebecca has held senior positions at companies including Discovery Communications, Viacom and Comcast.
Job Titles:
- Development Producer at BBC Studios ScriptWorks
Suzy is Development Producer at BBC Studios ScriptWorks, where she works with new and emerging TV writers. She's previously worked with Soilsiú Films, Dramadan and Mammoth Screen.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- BBC Studios' CEO
- Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) at BBC Studios
Tom Fussell is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at BBC Studios, responsible for the strategic development and leadership of BBC Studios. He heads up BBC Studios' Executive Committee (SEC) and has a seat on the BBC Executive Board, reporting into Director General, Tim Davie.
Tom was confirmed as CEO in October 2021 after holding the interim position for 13 months. Prior to this Tom was Chief Financial Officer at BBC Studios, taking up the role in 2017, having held the same position at BBC Worldwide since May 2016.
Before joining BBC Worldwide, Tom was CFO of Shine from 2013 to 2015, leading a global finance function across 11 markets and successfully completing the sale of Shine into a new joint venture, as part of its merger with Endemol. Prior to this Tom spent three years at Harper Collins UK in a variety of commercial director roles, having previously been the Finance Director for Random House in the UK. Between 1997 and 2007 he held a variety of finance roles at the BBC, in BBC Production and Group Finance.
Victoria has been working with emerging screenwriting talent since 2019, when she joined Rocliffe to help run the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Competition. Before joining ScriptWorks, she worked as a freelance script editor and ran a writers' room for Euston Films and Sky. Victoria has also worked in production and post-production for Mammoth Screen.