Samir Shah, 73, chair
Term: 2024–2028
Fees: £160,000 pa
Background: Former CEO of Juniper, an independent television and radio production company. Previously head of current affairs and political programmes at the BBC. Shah has been deputy chair of the V&A, chair of the Runnymede Trust and One World Media. In 2021, he co-authored a government-commissioned report that concluded that the UK was not institutionally racist. Appointed as chair of the BBC by the previous Conservative government.
Sir Damon Buffini, 63, deputy chair
Term: 2022-2025
Fees: £38,000
Background: Worked for 27 years at the investment firm Permira. In 2020 Buffini was appointed as chair of the government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, and is currently the chair of the Royal National Theatre. Buffini, who grew up on a Leicester council estate, was a key adviser to Gordon Brown when the latter was prime minister.
Tim Davie, 58, BBC director general
Term: 2020-
Remuneration: £540,000 – £544,999
Background: The chief executive of BBC Studios, the BBC’s principal commercial subsidiary. Previously vice-president of marketing and franchise at PepsiCo Europe, former trustee of the Tate and the Royal Television Society, and former chair of Comic Relief. In the 1990s, Davie unsuccessfully stood as a local councillor for the Tories. In 2023 he suspended Gary Lineker, then the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, over a tweet about the government’s asylum policy.
Deborah Turness, 58, CEO BBC news and current affairs
Term: 2022-2026
Annual remuneration: £430,000 – £434,999
Background: Turness began working for ITN in her early 20s, and became the first female editor of ITV News. In 2013, she joined NBC News, and later became CEO of ITN before joining the BBC in 2022.
Leigh Tavaziva, 52, chief operating officer
Term: 2023-2027
Remuneration: £465,000 – £469,999
Background: Previously the managing director of customer operations at British Gas and group director of strategy and transformation at Centrica. Earlier, she was a classical ballerina and contemporary dance artist.
Caroline Thomson, 71, senior independent director
Term: 2025-2029
Fees: £33,000 pa
Background: Thomson was the BBC’s chief operating officer from 2007 until 2012. Previous roles also include chair of Oxfam, chair of Digital UK and executive director at the English National Ballet. She is the daughter of a Labour peer and is married to a Labour peer.
Sir Robbie Gibb, 61, member for England
Term: 2021-2028
Fees: £43,000 pa
Background: Former head of BBC Westminster and editor of live political programmes. Gibb was the Tory prime minister Theresa May’s director of communications from 2017 until 2019. He was also previously an editorial adviser to GB News. Gibb has criticised perceived anti-Brexit and anti-Tory bias in the corporation’s output.
Muriel Gray, 67, member for Scotland
Term: 2022-2030
Fees: £38,000
Background: Gray presented Channel 4’s groundbreaking music programme The Tube in the early 1980s, and has been a broadcaster and author. She is a former chair of the board of governors at the Glasgow School of Art and a former trustee of the British Museum. Gray previously criticised Conservative party policies as “repugnant” on social media, and said she had “never been able to vote Tory”.
Michael Plaut, 64, member for Wales
Term: 2024-2028
Fees: £38,000
Background: Started his career as an investment banker. Former chair of CBI Wales. Currently chair of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and a governor of the University of South Wales.
Michael Smyth, 68, member for Northern Ireland
Term: 2023-2027
Fees: £38,000 pa
Background: A lawyer, and formerly a partner at the international law firm Clifford Chance and head of the firm’s government and public policy practice. He authored a textbook on business and human rights. Previously chair of Protect, the whistleblowing charity, and Community Links, a pioneering east London charity.
Shumeet Banerji, 65, non-executive director
Term: 2022-2025
Fees: £33,000 pa
Background: Founder of Condorcet, LP, an advisory and investment firm and later CEO of Booz & Company, a management consulting firm.
Chris Jones, 69, non-executive director
Term: 2023-2027
Fees: £38,000 pa
Background: A chartered accountant, formerly senior audit partner at PwC. He has been a member of audit and risk committees at Legal & General, the Wellcome Trust and Santander UK.
Marinella Soldi, 59, non-executive director
Term: 2023-2026
Fees: £33,000 pa
Background: Soldi began her career at McKinsey & Company, and later trained as a leadership coach. She was CEO of Discovery Networks Southern Europe, non-executive chair of the Vodafone Italia Foundation, and non-executive chair of the board of directors of the Italian broadcaster Rai.
