SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Deborah was appointed as Chief Executive ITN in April 2021, overseeing one of the largest independent television production companies in the UK and the producer of live network news programming for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

As well as its broadcast news division, ITN is also a market leader in factual programme-making, sports production, advertising production and business-to-business content.

Deborah joined from NBC News International, where she was the first president of the global arm of American news network NBC News, responsible for overseeing its operations including editorial, production and commercial.

Prior to that she was President of NBC News in the United States, becoming  the first woman in US history to be President of a network news division, where she led a team of over 3000 journalists and technicians. She was responsible for all editorial content and commercial revenues for NBC News, including major brands TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press and Dateline. During Deborah’s tenure the four programmes regained their position as top ratings performers in the competitive US news market.

Prior to joining NBC News, Deborah spent many years at ITN, latterly as editor of ITV News where she was the UK’s first female editor of a network news operation and the youngest ever editor of ITV News. During her tenure, the organisation won an Emmy and three consecutive BAFTA awards, as well as several RTS Programme of the Year awards.

David was appointed as the ITN CFOO in 2019 to oversee the finance function as well as several other business areas.

David initially trained and qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst within the Corporate Finance function of PwC, which led to senior finance and investments roles with the Mergers and Acquisitions team of Bacardi Martini and the position of Head of Investment and Major Projects for the BBC.

He progressed to become the Chief Executive of one of the BBC’s main commercial subsidiaries, BBC Studioworks Ltd, a production facilities company which sells studio and post production services to all the major broadcasters and production companies including the likes of ITV, Channel 4, Sky, the BBC and Endemol Shine. Under David’s five year tenure, the company grew substantially in revenues and profit and became dividend paying for the first time.

Rachel was appointed acting editor/deputy editor of ITV News in 2018. Previously she was editor of 5 News. Before that she had been editor of ITV News London, as well as holding a number of senior editorial roles in ITV News. As head of home news, Rachel led the team which won a Royal Television Society award. She began her ITN career as a trainee, spending time at 5 News as part of its launch team before taking up a series of roles covering major stories in the UK and abroad for ITV News. Rachel also spent time in Russia as the BBC’s senior Moscow producer.

Ben de Pear is the Editor of Channel 4 News, produced by ITN for Channel 4. Ben was appointed to the role in July 2012, having joined Channel 4 News in 2005 as a Senior Foreign Producer, later becoming Head of Foreign News, where he led the programme’s investigation into the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, prompting a UN investigation and global calls for a war crimes tribunal. This formed the basis of 2011’s award-winning Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields- produced by ITN for Channel 4.

Cait was appointed editor of 5 News in February 2018, having held the post of deputy editor for four years. Previously Cait was part of the Sky News team that won a Bafta for its coverage of the Soham murders in 2002,  and was a programme editor at ITV News for the relaunch of News at Ten in 2008, where she also worked on ITV’s Election 2010 programme and its Royal Wedding coverage in 2011.

Chris Shaw is the Editorial Director of ITN. He has been in television and radio for more than 25 years, starting as a news reporter and producer. He has held senior positions on every commercial news programme in the UK.

Most of his early journalistic career was spent at ITN where he was in turn the Home and Foreign news editor on Channel 4 News, Editor of News at Ten and the launch Editor of Channel Five News. He also devised and launched Big Breakfast News for Channel 4. In 1990 he became the first executive producer of ITN Factual which is the programme making arm of the news supplier. Chris has also done extensive field work in hostile environments such as Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Iran and Ethiopia.

Mohammed has extensive experience in the broadcast technology field. He began his career in media at the BBC, working in post-production and engineering roles at Pebble Mill Studios before joining telecommunications company NTL as a Senior Broadcast Engineer. Mohammed then returned to the BBC, spending 10 years in senior technical and operations roles in both Bristol and London. He joined Al Jazeera in 2012, first as Director of International Operations and Projects based in Doha, and then as Launch Director (Operations and Technology) for Al Jazeera America. He also held a number of consultancy roles before joining TRT.

At TRT World and TRT Arabic, Mohammed managed 400+ staff, including a team of broadcast and IT engineers, and led the development and launch of a state-of-the-art data centre as well as the technology operations of the TRT Arabic channel, broadcasting to Arabic-speaking audiences in Turkey and the Middle East.

Solicitor James Scorer joined ITN in 1996 in the dual roles of Director of Business Affairs and Company Secretary. As such he is involved in all aspects of ITN’s business.

Previously James was a partner at media lawyers, Olswang.

Alexandra Standfast returned to ITN in January 2019 and is responsible for leading the HR function as well as providing strategic and operational direction to the ITN Senior Leadership Team, ensuring it actively contributes to business goals. She previously worked at the media giant, Viacom, where she held a number of senior HR roles integrating Channel 5 into the Viacom business and subsequently heading up the UK HR team as Group HR Director. Prior to that Alexandra spent five years at ITN partnering with the newsrooms to help deliver all components of people related strategy. Alexandra started her career at Hewlett Packard where she held a variety of varied roles across the portfolio.

Alastair joined ITN in 2016 after a long career in broadcasting and independent production. He is Director of Sport at ITN and Managing Director of World Athletics Productions, ITN’s joint venture with World Athletics. An early career as a producer at BBC News & Current Affairs, BBC Sport and Sky News was followed by 15 years at IMG where he rose to be Executive Vice President of IMG and Chief Operating Officer of IMG Media worldwide. He launched SNTV and his programming credits include BAFTA, RTS, Emmy and Peabody award winning shows in factual, sports and entertainment.

Richard is responsible for the commercial and creative strategy of all facets of Commercial Production at ITN – Advertising, Branded Content, Industry News, Corporate Video and Education. Prior to joining ITN, he spent two decades in advertising, including a 13-year stint at BBH leading accounts such as BA, Axe and Diageo, and more recently was Managing Director at both Anomaly and FCB Inferno.

Beatrice joined ITN in 2018 and during 2019 was given an expanded remit in her role as Finance Director, covering ITN’s newsrooms and technology function, in addition to ITN Productions. Beatrice qualified as a chartered accountant at PwC and began her career in the media industry at the BBC, before taking up roles at  United International Pictures (Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures) and production company Fremantle. During her tenure at Fremantle she held a variety of senior finance roles including FD of the UK TV production business and Global Operational Finance Director,  overseeing financial reporting, business planning and investment appraisal across the international television production, distribution and commercial businesses.

Lisa began her career in journalism at Time Out Amsterdam, going on to work in reporting and editing roles on a range of specialist media titles spanning PR, music, marketing and advertising. After working as a freelance writer for national newspapers and magazines, Lisa joined UK TV industry bible Broadcast magazine where she enjoyed a ten year career in a variety of roles, including editor, a post she held for 7 years. Lisa was then appointed as Festival Director for the Edinburgh Television Festival, boosting the Festival’s global profile, attendees and reputation as the biggest and most prestigious media event in the UK. She joined ITN in January 2020 and is responsible for internal and external communications, alongside public affairs.