Register of disclosable interests

About Ofcom Structure and leadership
Published: 1 March 2024
Last updated: 1 November 2024

The register of disclosable interests sets out the external interests and commitments of those who sit on Ofcom’s Boards, Committees and Panels, and the interests of their partners and any dependents.

Members that have declared interests in companies regulated by Ofcom have provided assurances that they will not trade these shares while they remain a member of one of Ofcom’s Boards, Committees or Panels.

Name Board/Committee Status Interests
Michael Grade Ofcom Board Chair
  • Shareholder, StoryFirst (drama production company)
  • Shareholder, Talent Bank (digital content producer)
  • Shareholder, Miroma Group (global creative digital marketing company)
  • Shareholder, Grade Linnit Company Ltd (theatre producers; 50% shareholder)
  • Shareholder and consultant, MMM (music copyrights)
  • Non-Executive Chairman (designate), McFaddens & Co Group Ltd. (family office advisory) (shareholdings to be announced)
  • Chair and shareholder, Chiltern Management Group (project creation/ property development)
  • In receipt of BBC pension
  • In receipt of Channel 4 pension
  • In receipt of ITV pension
  • Daughter is involved in media training and media advisory work in Birmingham
  • Son is a freelance sports AP, working for IMG, BT, Sky and various independents
  • Sister is an agent for TV presenters and agent for Michael Grade (no longer active)
  • Shareholder, AKL Research & Development (pharmaceutical business) (unremunerated)
  • Chair designate, Lottoland (subject to an IPO) (unremunerated)
  • Chair, Arora Group Heathrow Expansion Board (unremunerated)
  • Patron, Sepsis Trust (unremunerated)
  • Vice President, Jewish Music Institute (unremunerated)
  • Trustee, Band Aid (unremunerated)
  • Trustee, Tall Ships Youth Trust (unremunerated)
  • Member of Advisory Board of the Communities Security Trust (unremunerated)
  • Adviser Dear Heart Productions (unremunerated)
  • VHF radio licence for boat
  • Non-affiliated peer, House of Lords
  • Adviser, Karma Technologies (unremunerated)
  • Non-executive Director ad shareholder, Magic Box Zone
People Committee Member
Risk and Audit Committee Attendee
Melanie Dawes Ofcom Board Executive Member
  • Member of the Racial Justice Commission (an independent body appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York)
People Committee Attendee
Risk and Audit Committee Attendee
Ben Verwaayen Ofcom Board Member
  • Chair of Renewi Limited
  • Non-Executive Director of Akamai
  • General Partner at investment fund Keen Venture Partners
People Committee Chair
Bob Downes Ofcom Board Member for Scotland 
  • Chair of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency
  • Non-Executive Director of Kube Networks
  • Chair of the Independent Oversight Board for Ireland’s Commission for Communications’ regulation
  • Shareholder, small number of shares in regulated companies held on a non-trading basis
Content Board Member
People Committee Member
Advisory Committee for Scotland Attendee
Election Committee Interim Chair
Angela Dean Ofcom Board Member
  • Trustee of York Museums Trust
  • A Senior Independent Panel Member for Public Appointments
People Committee Member
Risk and Audit Committee Chair
Advisory Committee for England Attendee
Karen Baxter Ofcom Board Member
  • Director, Financial Conduct Authority
Risk and Audit Committee Member
Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Attendee
Lindsey Fussell Ofcom Board Executive Member
  • Non-executive Director (Sufficiently Independent Director), NGED
Will Harding Ofcom Board Member
  • Trustee of Education and Employers
  • Director of Primedia Holdings (Pty) Ltd (South Africa).
  • Trustee, Landmark Arts Centre
  • Relative is Member of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee
  • Deferred member of the BBC pension scheme
Risk and Audit Committee Member
Content Board Member
Lord Richard Allan Ofcom Board Member
  • Director and sole shareholder of a personal consultancy business called RTFM Club Ltd. This may receive income from activities like writing and speaking on matters related to technology policy.
  • Unpaid non-executive Director of Centre for Public Data CIC working on access to govt data.
  • Unpaid non-executive Director of New Automotive CIC working to promote Electric Vehicles.
  • Unpaid member of DSIT Digital Centre Advisory Panel working on the UK Government's 10 year digital strategy.
  • Member of Liberal Democrat group in the House of Lords from 2010 until Oct 3rd 2024. Now non-affiliated member of Lords.
  • Health and Care Spokesperson for Liberal Democrat Lords group Jan 2023 to July 2024
Clive Jones Content Board Chair
  • Chair, Sightsavers
  • Chair, Runnymede Trust
  • Chair, ITV Pensions Scheme
  • Trustee, Thomson Foundation
Stephen Nuttall Content Board Member
  • Shareholder of Alphabet (the parent company of Google)
  • Member of the Royal Television Society
  • Voting member of BAFTA
  • Partner works for First Decide LLP
  • Deputy Chair of British Science Association
Alison Marsden Content Board Executive Member
  • Partner is employed part-time by The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department of Health and Social Care
  • Non-Executive Board Member at the UK's statutory regulatory body for fertility treatment and embryo research, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
  • Member of the BBC pension scheme
Cristina Nicolotti Squires Content Board Executive Member
  • Sibling is Mother of the Chapel for the National Union of Journalists in a BBC News production team.
Peter Horrocks Content Board Member
  • In receipt of a BBC pension
  • Attends the editorial board of N1, a group of news channels in the Balkans
  • Chair of Learna Ltd, a medical education business
  • Trustee, One World Media (NGO)
  • Member, advisory board of Balkans Free Media Initiative
Dekan Apajee Content Board Member
  • Member of the BBC pension scheme
  • Member of the National Union of Journalists
  • Consultant for Digital Awareness UK to support the development of a curriculum journalism training course
  • Member for Big Ideas, C.I.C Advisory board
Advisory Committee for England Attendee
Kim Shillinglaw Content Board Member
  • Holds widely invested ISA funds which may contain fractional investments in regulated companies
  • Independent Board member at BEIS (Met Office - Public Weather Service)
  • Member of BBC pension scheme
  • Trustee of Raspberry Pi Foundation
  • Advisor at the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre
  • Non-executive Director at Natural England
  • Non-executive Director at Natural Environment Research Council
  • Chair of Discovery Decade, a research project on UK R&D investment conducted by the Wellcome Trust and the Campaign for Science and Engineering
  • Non-executive Director of Axis Studio Group
  • Non-executive Director of Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ltd
Maria McCann   Content Board Member
  • Founder and Managing Partner, McCann Public Relations
  • Vice Chair, Clanmil Housing Association
Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Attendee
Ruth McElroy Content Board Member
  • Chair of Ffilm Cymru
  • Member of Unboxed Evaluation Advisory Board (DCMS/Welsh Government)
  • Head of School, Bangor University
  • Consultant at Media Cymru (SIPF project) 2023-2026
  • Board member Gogledd Creadigol 2023-2025
Advisory Committee for Wales Attendee
Simon Bucks Content Board Member
  • Partner in a small media consultancy Armitage Bucks Communications which specialises in media training
  • Spouse is also a Partner of Armitage Bucks Communications
  • Trustee and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Television Society
  • Emeritus member of the Society of Editors
  • Occasionally writes articles on the media sector, mainly for the Royal Television Society magazine
  • In receipt of ITN pension
Paula Carter Advisory Committee for England Chair
  • Magistrate on the South East London Bench
  • In receipt of a pension from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4
  • Surrey representative on the Board of the Rugby Football Union
  • Member, British Transport Police Authority
Aaqil Ahmed Advisory Committee for England Member
  • Non-executive director of:
    • Higher Education funding council of Wales
    • Elstree Film Studios
    • Ffilm Cymru 
    • Culture Squared - the CIC that runs from the Bradford Literature Festival
  • Trustee of the Sandford St Martins Trust
  • Trustee of the London Rugby league Foundation
  • Director of Amplify Consulting Ltd (media consultancy with clients and contracts across media and the arts)
  • Senior independent panelist for the Welsh Governments public appointments unit
  • Deferred Pensions with BBC and Channel 4
Caroline Gardner Advisory Committee for England Member
  • Bury College, teacher
Grant Davis Advisory Committee for England Member
  • None
Edleen John Advisory Committee for England Member
  • None
Mauro Mortali Advisory Committee for England Member
  • Partner, Cambridge Management Consulting
Elizabeth Partyka Advisory Committee for Scotland Chair
  • Shareholder in STV Group PLC
  • Receives an STV pension
  • Non-Executive board member of Creative Scotland
Stephen Speirs Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • Shareholder in Cisco
Jess McBeath Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • Director and founder of Jess Ltd (online harms and digital citizenship consultancy)
  • Member of Advertising Advisory Committee (Advertising Standards Authority/Committees of Advertising Practice)
  • Temporary part-time role with Ofcom's Making Sense of Media team as a media literacy coordinator until end of June 2024
Ashe Hussain Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • Member of the Creative Scotland's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group
  • Part time employee at Film City Future, working on projects related to media
  • Freelance assessor at Film Hub Scotland
  • Member of the Royal Television Society
  • Member of BAFTA Scotland
  • Owner of FortyLoveMedia Ltd.
  • In receipt of a BBC survivor's pension
Polly Tolley Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • Head of Public Policy for Retail Banking, NatWest
Dr Cameron Spiers    Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • CEO Neutral Wireless
  • Spouse is Senior Commercial Manager, Neutral Wireless

Caroline Di Stefano 

 Advisory Committee for Scotland Member
  • Shares held in Royal Mail
  • Employed by SSEN Transmission, part of the SSE Group, which owns Neos Networks
  • Joining the SSE share incentive scheme
Angharad  Evans Advisory Committee for Wales Member
  • Member of BAFTA
  • Member of Women in Film and Television
  • Director and Owner, Angharad Evans Consulting Limited
  • Limited consultancy work for S4C and BBC Studios relating to advice on commercial contracts and licensing/rights agreements
  • Legal consultancy advice to independent production companies on on commercial contracts, financing contracts, licensing/rights agreement and general compliance with all relevant rules and regulations
Aled Eirug Advisory Committee for Wales Member
  • In receipt of a BBC pension
  • Independent adviser to the National Assembly for Wales Commission
  • Honorary research fellow, Cardiff University
  • Chair, Coleg Cymraeg
  • Wife is chair of the Arts Council of Wales
Geraint Strello Advisory Committee for Wales Member
  • Shares in BT PLC
  • Member of BT Pension Scheme
Karen Lewis Advisory Committee for Wales Member
  • None
Rachel Burr Advisory Committee for Wales Member
  • Director, Diabetes UK Cymru
Amanda Rees Advisory Committee for Wales

Member
  • Associate at Elevate Business Consultancy (employed on a project by project basis)
  • Provides independent consultancy and executive producer services, potentially to Category 1, 2 or 3 companies
Carrie Matchett Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Chair
  • Self-employed consultant, specialising in governance and strategy
  • Member of the BBC pension scheme
  • Holds a venture capital trust with Foresight
Michael Wilson Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Member
  • Shareholder in ITV
  • Director and owner of Beech Hill Consultancy Ltd
  • Chair of the Advisory Board at Isle of Media
  • Member of the Royal Television Society
Aodhan O'Donnell Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Member
  • None
Colm Murphy Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Member
  • Ulster University - Lecturer
  • Partner holds shares in International Distributions Services (formerly Royal Mail)
  • Chair, National Council for the Training of Journalists Educators' Panel
Jackie Neill Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Member
  • Director, Headgirl Media Limited - occasional commissions for radio series for BBC Northern Ireland
  • Husband works for BBC Northern Ireland as a Sound Engineer
  • In receipt of a BBC pension
  • Trainee freelance wellbeing facilitator in TV and film
Paul Wickens Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland Member
  • Son works in a sales role for BT plc and is a member of an employee share scheme
Mark Jones Community Radio Fund Panel Chair
  • Member of the Community Media Association but does not hold any positions within the organisation
Alan Stewart Community Radio Fund Panel Member
  • Full member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
  • Occasional visiting lecturer at universities in Scotland on media regulation and consumption trends
  • Commissioner, Boundaries Scotland
Olu Bankole Community Radio Fund Panel Executive Member
  • Shareholding in a group holding company of a regulated company, held on a non-trading basis
  • Shareholding in one company not regulated by Ofcom (but involved in the communications, media or postal sectors) held on a non-trading basis
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