Tim Davie

Davie won a scholarship to attend Whitgift School in Croydon, and studied English at Selwyn College, Cambridge, being the first in his family to attend University. He joined Procter & Gamble as a trainee in 1991.[6][7]

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.[8]

Davie stood as a councillor for the Conservative Party in Hammersmith in 1993 and 1994[9] and was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative party in the 1990s.[10][11]

Davie joined the BBC as Director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences in April 2005,[12] succeeding Andy Duncan.[13] 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 Radio 4 Extra (then BBC 7); the three BBC Orchestras based in England; and The Proms. During this time he was involved in abandoned plans to close down Radio 6 Music and the Asian Network.[13] In July 2009 he was on The Guardian's list of the 100 most influential people in the media.[14]

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.[15] He became chief executive officer of BBC Worldwide following the appointment of Tony Hall. BBC Worldwide merged with the TV-making arm of the BBC, BBC Studios, in April 2018 and Davie served as both the Chief Executive of BBC Studios and a Director globally.[16]

He was awarded a CBE in 2018, for services to international trade.[17] In 2019 he earned £642,000 and was the BBC's highest paid executive.[13]

In January 2020, Tony Hall announced he was resigning from the Director-General's position before the scheduled end of his tenure.[18][19] In May 2020, Davie was one of four candidates shortlisted to succeed Hall in the position.[20] On 5 June 2020, it was announced he would become the corporation's seventeenth Director-General from 1 September.[1][2]

In August 2020 Tim Davie announced his intention for the BBC to "find a better balance of satirical targets rather than constantly aiming jokes at the Tories."[21] He also announced his support of the licence fee as opposed to a Netflix style subscription service.[22]

Davie is Chairman of Comic Relief, Trustee of the Tate and the Royal Television Society, and in 2018 was appointed as Chairman of the Creative Industries Council.[27][28][29]

Previously, he has been on the boards of Freesat, Digital UK and Children in Need.[29]

Davie is married and has three sons.[30] He is a keen runner.[13]