Tim Davie

Tim Davie (born April 25, 1967) is the Chief Executive Officer of BBC Worldwide who served as acting Director-General of the BBC following George Entwistle's resignation in November 2012^[1][2] until Lord Hall took over the role permanently in April 2013. During his time as acting director-general he oversaw the investigations into BBC management and conduct following revelations the broadcaster had known about sexual abuse by Sir Jimmy Savile and then made false accusations against Lord McAlpine.^[3]

Career

Davie was educated at Whitgift School in Croydon, and studied English at Selwyn College, Cambridge before joining Procter & Gamble as a trainee in 1991.^[4]

Appointed UK Marketing Manager for PepsiCo in 1993, Davie was subsequently promoted to Vice President, Marketing, Europe and Sub-Sahara Africa, holding several similar appointments, including in the United States, before taking up the Vice President for Marketing and Franchise post.

BBC

Davie joined the BBC as Director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences in April 2005. He was Director General Mark Thompson's first senior external appointment.

In June 2008, it was announced that he was replacing Jenny Abramsky, who served at the BBC for 39 years before leaving to chair the Heritage Lottery Fund. Appointed Director of Audio & Music, he sat on the BBC's Executive Board with overall responsibility for all of the BBC's national radio networks and the corporation's music output across all media. This included BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4; as well as the BBC digital radio stations BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC 7; the three BBC Orchestras based in England; and The Proms. He also heads up programme making teams across radio and music television. BBC Audio and Music has an annual programming budget of c.£200 million and a staff of over 1,400.

Davie took over as acting Director-General on 11 November 2012 following the resignation of George Entwistle in the wake of the Newsnight broadcast which did not name any individual but which led to Internet speculation which incorrectly identified Conservative Lord McAlpine in the North Wales child abuse case.^[5]

In July 2009 he was on The Guardian's list of the 100 most influential people in the media.^[6] He has been Chairman of Freesat, a director of Freeview and Digital UK and is currently trustee and Vice Chairman of Children in Need.

Personal life

Davie is married and has three sons.^[7]

References