Sir Mark Thompson
Chairman and CEO, CNN Worldwide
Mark Thompson is chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, where he oversees all aspects of the business in the US and around the world. He is also the chairman of Ancestry; deputy chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and co-chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media, a new global fund to support journalists around the world.
Thompson stepped down as president and CEO of The New York Times Company in 2020 after an eight-year tenure, during which he led the transformation of the 170-year-old news brand into a digital powerhouse.
His appointment at The New York Times Company followed an eight-year term as director general (editor-in-chief and chief executive) of the BBC. As well as guiding the BBC’s coverage of the global financial crisis and the 2012 London Olympic Games, he is credited with major advances in the BBC’s digital offering and digital audience reach, including the successful launch of BBC iPlayer. He joined the BBC from Channel 4, where he was chief executive from 2002 to 2004.
His book, Enough Said: What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?, was published in the UK and US in September 2016.
