About

The current Chair of The Arts Foundation, James brings top-level experience of both government and regulatory affairs to Radiocentre. In the 1980s he was a Special Adviser on employment and trade and went on to serve as Political Secretary to the Prime Minister between 1994 and 1997. He was appointed as the government’s first Permanent Secretary for Communications in 2004, overseeing Whitehall’s press, advertising and marketing including the Central Office of Information (COI). Howell is a member of The Marketing Group of Great Britain and a fellow of The Chartered Institute of Public Relations. James worked in commercial radio early in his career as Head of Promotions at Capital Radio in the late 1970s, and was later Director of Corporate Affairs at the BBC between 1987 and 1992. In 1997 James was a founding partner and director of strategic consultancy Brown Lloyd James, and later spent four years at Barclays as Director and then Vice Chairman of Corporate Affairs. After two years in the role of Global Head of Corporate Communications at auction house Christie’s, he became Chief Executive of Quiller in 2014.

As Radiocentre’s CEO, Matt has responsibility for leading commercial radio’s engagement with Government, regulators and political stakeholders, as well as overseeing the sector’s joint marketing and research activities with advertisers and agencies. Matt joined Radiocentre in 2009 and held leadership roles in Policy and External Affairs before being named Chief Operating Officer in 2021. Matt has overseen many areas of policy, strategy and public affairs for the organisation, securing more operational freedom for commercial radio, showcasing its public service role and overseeing the industry response to Covid-19. He has also been at the forefront of developing industry policy on the BBC and led negotiations on music licensing. In 2019 he was appointed to the non-exec role of Secretary General of the Association of European Radio and is a board member of the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice. Prior to joining Radiocentre, Matt worked for several membership organisations and trade bodies, as well as in government and parliament.

Lucy joined Radiocentre as Client Director in 2015 to champion commercial radio among advertisers and agencies. Her mission is to help advertisers See Radio Differently by highlighting record audiences and the proven brand and business driving effects of the medium. She is also responsible for Radiocentre’s events and marketing. Prior to Radiocentre, Lucy was European Communications Director of global advertising agency J Walter Thompson and before that Editor of the leading trade title Marketing. A regular commentator on advertising and media, she was also The Guardian’s advertising columnist. In 2022 she became the inaugural President of the World Radio Alliance.

Mark arguably does more than any other individual to demonstrate the value, reach and impact of commercial radio in the UK. In his role of Planning Director at Radiocentre, Mark is responsible for developing its award-winning research and content strategy. He is the architect of the Radiocentre’s highly successful ‘radioGAUGE’, ‘Online Multiplier’, ‘Media & the mood of the nation’, ‘ROI Multiplier’ research projects; and is co-author of the book ‘An advertiser’s guide to better radio advertising’ published by Wiley. In 2015 he received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honour’s list for services to commercial radio. Before joining Radiocentre, Mark spent 18 years as a strategic media planner on blue-chip clients across a number of agencies, most recently as Communications Planning Director at Universal McCann where, amongst others, he ran the Bacardi Martini, Nestle, MasterCard and Microsoft accounts.

Michael’s role as Director of External Affairs is to provide commercial radio with a voice on issues that affect the way radio stations operate, working with government, politicians, policy makers and regulators to secure the best environment for growth and development. This work involves research and strategic planning in order to present positions to a variety of audiences that both represent and regulate the industry.

Prior to joining Radiocentre, Michael worked in Westminster for a Member of Parliament who became first ever Intellectual Property Adviser to the Prime Minister and focused on tackling online piracy. After graduating in Politics, Michael gained a post-graduate qualification in Law.

As Head of Customer Training at Radiocentre, Judith’s main responsibility is to increase advertiser and agency understanding of radio as an advertising medium through training workshops, consultancy and presentations. This includes running Radiocentre’s monthly Introduction to Radio Advertising course which she has recently redesigned. Prior to her current role Judith has worked in the fields of research and marketing analysis for many years, both at the RAB and, before that, at Diageo. Her main passion has always been making research and insight interesting and accessible for everyone – without unnecessary jargon or too many horrible charts.

Steve joined Radiocentre as Head of Marketing in November 2022. He oversees the company’s brand, digital presence, advertising campaigns and promotions. This includes the annual flagship conference Tuning In, as well as research launches and smaller events around the UK.

Before joining Radiocentre, Steve held various management positions within media and publishing marketing, including at the BBC and The Economist Group.

As Head of Communications and Membership Marketing, Sarah oversees all Radiocentre marketing and communications to members. After graduating from university, Sarah started her career in magazine publishing but a couple of years later she joined Radiocentre, discovered the wonderful world of radio and hasn’t looked back since.

Najmo will be the main lead of contact for Radiocentre and will be working closely with every department. Before starting at Radiocentre, Najmo spent 3 years working as ‘Operations Coordinator’ in the PR sector for Global PR company Omnicom -Fleishman Hillard.

Najmo holds a BA degree in Management which includes travel, aviation & business. Alongside work Najmo loves fashion with experience of modelling and loves football having played for over 18 years.

Jade has been at Radiocentre since 2018 and currently looks after Radiocentre’s marketing activities to our members, the advertising industry and other external stakeholders. 

Jade has previous experience in the fashion industry working in operations and digital marketing before joining Radiocentre.

Phoebe is responsible for running Radiocentre’s long-term award-winning radio advertising effectiveness programme Radiogauge. Through Radiogauge, Phoebe provides insights to help advertisers understand the effectiveness of their radio campaigns, presenting regularly to advertising and media customers. Beyond Radiogauge, Phoebe answers ad-hoc requests from advertisers and is part of the presenting team for Radiocentre research.

Will joined Radiocentre in October 2022 as Senior Policy Manager. His role focuses on developing policy positions and responses on areas that impact commercial radio broadcasters. He supports the Director of External Affairs on policy development and strategic planning, as well as across Radiocentre’s public affairs activities – working with Government, politicians, policymakers and regulators to secure the best environment for growth and development of the medium.

Before joining Radiocentre, Will was Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Social Investment Business, an organisation that funds charities and social enterprises.

Yvonne runs the clearance team that pre-vets up to 30,000 radio ad scripts each year in accordance with the industry’s advertising code of practice. She set up radio’s first medium-specific advertising clearance service in 1996 and has been at the helm ever since. Before this she spent five years with the regulatory body the Radio Authority. Yvonne started her career in BBC radio but jumped ship to the commercial sector and has never looked back.

Al’s role in the clearance team is to help ensure that advertising campaigns get to air quickly and in compliance with the Advertising Code, and to ensure that the Script Clearance System works efficiently. Prior to joining Radiocentre he worked for the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre working on campaigns for TV and before that at the Advertising Standards Authority investigating complaints against advertising.

Katherine works with the Clearance team to help ensure that radio ad campaigns comply with the BCAP Code. She specialises in approving ads for the gambling sector, financial services, Government campaigns and ads for cosmetic products. After graduating from university, Katherine started her career in magazine publishing but soon tuned into radio, joining the Clearance team in 2000.

Simon joined Radiocentre in 2007. His main areas of expertise are alcohol, cars and the beauty industry. It’s also up to him to make sense of radio ads for financial products. He is a graduate of Christchurch University Canterbury’s Radio, Film and Television course.

Scott joined Radiocentre in June 2016. He began his IT career in the education sector, where he created and managed critical IT services in schools for over a decade. He is responsible for all technology at Radiocentre, from the backbone network and servers right down to the handheld devices and printers.

Nishi is a Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and looks after all financial matters at Radiocentre, from preparing budgets and forecasts for the Board to managing the monthly payroll and pensions for the company. She also heads up Radiocentre’s HR function and manages all lease related matters for the office’s premises. Working with IT manager, Nishi has oversight of Radiocentre’s IT infrastructure.

Nishi is also involved in negotiations with HMRC on their Radio Industry Guidelines, which concern the tax status of radio presenters.

Originally from Bristol, Montana moved to London in 2021. She is AAT qualified and currently working towards the CIMA Diploma in Management Accounting. At Radiocentre, Montana is training to manage the sales and purchase ledgers and assist with the preparation of management accounts and budgets.

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