Anna became Chief Executive Officer at Independent Television News in 2019. Prior to this Anna worked as Chief Operating Officer and MD at BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, Anna’s role spanned development and production, content financing, sales, branded services and ancillaries.
Before joining the BBC, Anna spent around eight years at the Boston Consulting Group and was a part-time tutor at the University of Oxford. She has an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate from the University of Oxford.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given?
“Know what your strengths are and know what they are not”. No one is good at everything. Even if they think they are they are not! As I have moved into leadership roles, I have seen first-hand the vital importance of building a great team, with a winning set of complementary skills and experience.
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given?
That you need to adapt your personal style to be a successful leader. For me the point of bringing greater diversity into leadership is to embrace new perspectives and approaches.
3. What would you tell your younger self?
‘Resilience is more important than brilliance’. Things are definitely going to go wrong in life. You won’t always get the grades you want, the job you aspire to, the promotion you think you deserve. But never give up because if you persist things usually turn around.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
The media industry has a powerful role to play in society and democracy through its story telling, and the pace of change and innovation means there are exciting new ways to connect, challenge and stay relevant. The great thing about an organisation like ITN is its agility; there are always opportunities to try new things that you have not done before and find creative ways to pull them off.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
People with energy for life are my biggest inspiration. Having energy is the most brilliant gift – it means you can tackle anything. Whether it’s my late mother who continued to get up at the crack of dawn and write until the very end of her life or my colleagues at work who deliver fantastic story telling in some very pressurised situations. Energy fuels creativity and determination.
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