Channel 4 Board

Sir Ian Cheshire – Chair

Joined the Board on 11 April 2022. His appointment runs until 10 April 2025.

Sir Ian is currently Chair of Land Securities plc, Chair of Spire Healthcare Group plc, and Chair of the King Charles III Charitable Fund. Sir Ian is also Chair of the We Mean Business Coalition, Chair of the Mental Health at Work Leadership Council, and non-executive director of the environmental investment trust Menhaden plc. 

Previous appointments were Chair of Debenhams, Barclays Bank UK, CEO of Kingfisher plc, B&Q and Maisons du monde. Lead non-executive director for the Government and Non-Executive Director of BT Group plc. He was Chair of the British Retail Consortium, Chair of the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, President of the Business Disability Forum President’s Group and chaired the Ecosystem Markets Task Force and GR Task Force.  Sir Ian was lead non-executive director at the UK Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions and also, previously held non-executive director roles at Whitbread Plc where he was Senior Independent Director.

Sir Ian was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to Business, Sustainability and the Environment and is a Chevalier of the Ordre National du Merite of France.

Lord Christopher Holmes MBE – Non-Executive Deputy Chair

Joined the Board on 5 December 2016. His appointment runs until 10 June 2024.

Lord Holmes MBE is Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer, winning nine gold medals including an unrivalled six at a single Games. He was also LOCOG’s Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for leading the team that planned and delivered the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

In 2013, Chris entered the House of Lords. Lord Holmes is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology and the benefits of diversity and inclusion. He is a member of the influential House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology and has previously co-authored House of Lords Select Committee Reports on Democracy and Digital Technologies, Intergenerational Fairness, Artificial Intelligence, Financial Exclusion, Social Mobility and Digital Skills. 

Chris is Director of a niche change, insights and innovation consultancy. He is also Adviser to BPP University.

Chris was Non-Executive Director at UK Sport, where he helped to develop the Mission 2012 strategy which led to Great Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic success at London 2012 and Rio 2016. At UK Sport, he also chaired the audit committee for seven years. He was also a lawyer at a leading City firm where he specialised in pensions and employment law.

Dawn Airey – Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board on 6 December 2021. Her appointment runs until 5 December 2024.

Dawn’s career includes roles as Chair and CEO of Channel 5, Managing Director of Channels and Services for BSkyB, Managing Director of Global Content at ITV and Senior Vice-President of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Yahoo. 

She is currently Chair of the National Youth Theatre, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship, and the Digital Theatre Group.

Andrew Miller – Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board on 1 June 2020 as Non-Executive Director and Chair of Channel 4's Audit Committee. His appointment runs until 30 Sept 2026.

Andrew is Chief Executive of Motability Operations plc. An accountant by training and a leader in digital transformation, Andrew has also held senior executive positions at a number of multinational consumer and media groups. These include Food Folk Group Holdings – owner of the McDonald’s licence for the Nordics Scandinavia – Guardian Media Group and Autotrader, taking the latter from a print magazine to a digital platform. Prior to this, Andrew held senior finance roles at Frito-Lay Europe, Procter & Gamble and Bass. He has also held Non-Executive Director roles and was Audit Chair at the AA plc and Ocean Outdoor Media plc.

Andrew is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and sits on the Advisory Board for Sarah Brown's Theirworld charity.

David Kogan OBE – Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board on 6 December 2021. His appointment runs until 5 December 2024. 

David’s career began in newspapers. Following a stint as a producer at the BBC, he spent nine years at Reuters Television, latterly as Managing Director Global. He went on to become CEO of strategy and commercial rights negotiator Reel Enterprises, which specialised in advising television, newspaper and sports companies.

Michael Lynton – NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Joined the Board on 25 April 2022. His appointment runs until 24 April 2025.

Michael is currently Chair of Snap Inc, a position he has held since 2016 having joined Snap’s Board in 2013. He has also been Chair of Warner Music Group since 2019.

Previously, Michael served as Chair and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc from 2004 until 2017, and additionally as CEO of Sony Entertainment Inc and Sony Corporation of America from 2012 to 2017.

Prior to joining Sony, he has worked at The Walt Disney Company – where he started Disney Publishing and subsequently served as President of Disney's Hollywood Pictures; Pearson plc – where he was Chair and CEO of Penguin Group; and Time Warner – where he was CEO of AOL Europe, President of AOL International, and President of Time Warner International.

Michael is also currently a member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian, the Council on Foreign Relations, the RAND Corporation, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Tate.

Sarah Sands – Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board on 6 December 2021. Her appointment runs until 5 December 2024.

Sarah’s career spans 35 years in news, current affairs and as an author. She has held some of the most senior editorial positions in the industry at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, Readers’ Digest, London Evening Standard and the BBC’s Today programme.

Tess Alps – Non-Executive Director

Joined the Board on 6 December 2021. Her appointment runs until 5 December 2024. 

Tess began her career in advertising before joining global media buying agency PHD, where she became UK Chair. She spent over 14 years at Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial television in the UK, as its CEO and eventually its Chair. 

Tess is currently a Council member of the Advertising Standards Authority.

Alex Mahon – Chief Executive

Alex Mahon became Chief Executive of Channel 4 in October 2017 and is the first female Chief Executive of a major UK broadcaster. Prior to this, Alex was the CEO of international software firm Foundry.

From 2012-2015, Alex was CEO of global producers Shine Group, where she oversaw the build-and-buy strategy of building up 27 production labels over 12 international territories and was responsible for all content strategy, including the launch of global scripted divisions and the rollout of formats internationally. Between 2007 and 2012, Alex was President at Shine Group based in LA and then London.

Alex began her career as a PhD Physicist and became a consultant and then part of the strategy team in Luxembourg at European broadcasters RTL Group followed by working at FremantleMedia and then Talkback in the UK.

Jonathan Allan – Chief Operating Officer

Jonathan was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in 2020, following two years as Chief Commercial Officer and seven years as Sales Director at Channel 4.

Jonathan graduated in Economics from Newcastle University and immediately joined a full-service agency, Cravens Advertising, in the City.

He joined the TV department at major London media agency OMD UK in 1995 and then was appointed to the Board as TV Director in January 2000. He subsequently moved into communications strategy and new business for a number of years and was appointed Deputy Managing Director in February 2005 and, in January 2007, he became Managing Director.

Ian Katz – Chief Content Officer

Ian joined Channel 4 in January 2018. He has overall responsibility for the creative output across Channel 4, its portfolio of channels and on streaming.

Ian is an experienced creative leader with an award-winning track record in both broadcast and newspaper journalism. At Channel 4 he has been responsible for greenlighting critically acclaimed shows ranging from The Big Narstie Show to Brexit: The Uncivil War and It’s A Sin. He was editor of BBC Newsnight from 2013 to 2017, a period which saw the show collect awards for exposing the Kids Company scandal, covering the Grenfell fire and investigating the massacre of Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Previously, Ian worked in a wide range of roles at The Guardian, including features, foreign reporting and launching the paper on the internet. As Deputy Editor and Head of News (2008-2013), he oversaw the groundbreaking WikiLeaks and phone-hacking investigations.