Industry News

Howell James CBE joins Radiocentre as Chair

Howell James CBE, the former head of government communications and Political Secretary to the Prime Minister, is joining Radiocentre, the industry body for commercial radio, as its non-executive Chair.

After building an illustrious career in both government and corporate affairs, with a strong focus on media, James’ appointment at Radiocentre follows his decision in 2017 to leave his role as Chief Executive of the regulatory and corporate affairs consultancy Quiller to concentrate on building his non-executive portfolio.

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 in the 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.

Having worked in commercial radio early in his career as Head of Promotions at Capital Radio in the late 1970s, James was the 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.

Howell James CBE said: “Commercial radio remains an enduring passion of mine, and I’ve kept close to the media industry and the regulatory developments that affect radio. I’m relishing the challenge of chairing Radiocentre at such a time of great potential for commercial radio.”

Siobhan Kenny, the Chief Executive of Radiocentre, said: “I would like to pay fulsome tribute to Kip Meek who has been a superb Chair since I arrived at Radiocentre four years ago. He has a fitting successor in Howell who not only has deep experience of government and regulatory affairs but also a strong understanding of the commercial sector. His enthusiasm and wisdom will be sizeable assets to Radiocentre as we look to build on a period of excellent growth for commercial radio and seize all the opportunities which changing technology delivers to the sector.”