Harvard MBA Alumna to Take Reins at BBC: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Sep 02, 2014

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Introduction
Rona Fairhead’s appointment to BBC Trust surprises some

The BBC Trust is set to appoint a Harvard MBA alumna as its new head

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Harvard MBA alumna, Rona Fairhead, is set to become the first woman to chair the BBC Trust – the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

As a publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC Trust role puts Rona Fairhead in charge of ensuring the BBC delivers on its commitments to the public. She will also be charged with renewing the BBC’s royal charter, which outlines its public obligations, in 2016. The Harvard MBA’s nomination to the role is complete but for an approval from none other than the Queen.

Rona Fairhead was described as an "exceptional individual with a highly impressive career history,” by the UK’s culture secretary, Sajid Javid.

That career history since completing her Harvard MBA has seen Fairhead hold leadership positions at ICI, where she was executive vice president of strategy and group financial control, and the Financial Times, where she was chairwoman and chief executive between 2006 and 2013 – reportedly leaving after being overlooked for the top role at the FT’s parent company, Pearson PLC.

Rona Fairhead also currently sits on the boards of HSBC and PepsiCo, where the present CEO, Indra Nooyi, is a fellow MBA alumna, having completed the PGDM equivalent offered at IIM Calcutta.

Rona Fairhead’s appointment to BBC Trust surprises some

"The BBC is a great British institution packed with talented people, and I am honored to have the opportunity to be the chairman of the BBC Trust,” Rona Fairhead said adding that she was: “under no illusions about the significance and the enormity of the job.”

Indeed, the public interest inherent in the role led some insiders at the BBC to expect the appointment of a more recognizable name – such as Sebastian Coe, the former Olympic gold-medalist now chairman of the British Olympic Association, who was thought to be the BBC Trust’s early front-runner for the position before he withdrew from contention in July.

However, the nomination of a first female chair is a positive pronouncement in itself and the Harvard MBA’s suitability for the role was upheld by Sir Peter Bazalgette, a former board member for the UK’s Channel 4 and now chair of Arts Council England:

"With her experience as finance director of Pearson, she can read a balance sheet and she knows the media. She's also an experienced non-executive director of large companies,” he said.

image credit: mikecphoto / Shutterstock.com

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).