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Ashley Highfield Is Chairman of Oyster Yachts Limited (since May 2018), makers of luxury British sailing boats. He is also founder of Henley Partners limited, his vehicle for investing in and advising businesses across a range of sectors. He is an Associate Director of Deloitte LLP. Between 2011 and 2018 he was CEO of Johnston Press Plc, owners of
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...
,
The Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
, and (from April 2016) i in May 2018. He has also worked for
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as main board director responsible for New Media and Technology. In June 2015 Culture Secretary
John Whittingdale Sir John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (born 16 October 1959) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Maldon (and its predecessors) since 1992. A member of the Conservative Party, Whittingdale served as the Minister of ...
named Highfield as one of eight people on an advisory board tasked with working on the renewal of the BBC's
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
- which sets out the corporation's remit. In October 2015 he was appointed Chairman of the News Media Association, the trade body for the UK's newspaper industry. He has held a number of non-executive roles, most recently on the boards of William Hill plc (for 9 years between 2009 and 2018) and the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
(for 7 years between 2010 and 2017).


Career

Educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and
City University, London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
, Highfield joined
Coopers & Lybrand PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
, (now PwC) on graduation, working as a management consultant in the TMT sector for six years. In 1994 he returned to the UK to become head of IT and New Media for
NBC Europe NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel, and later NBC Channel) was a satellite television network based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe, and it was picked up by various European cable systems where available. The network was base ...
, before joining
Flextech Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting. Living TV Group had several owned channels, available in the United K ...
- a pay-TV channel provider - where he worked for five years as director of interactive services. In October 2000 he joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as Director of New Media & Technology working for
Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
who said in his autobiography ''Inside Story'' "Ashley is one of the most inventive people I know". Dyke also said "Ashley didn't have an easy task bringing all the BBC's online activity under one division, but he did it with great success". In 2005, under new Director General Mark Thompson, Highfield retained his place on the new slimmed-down Executive Board and was given additional responsibility for Broadcast and Production technology across the BBC. In July 2006 the BBC reformed its structure, turning the New Media department into the Future Media & Technology department (including BBC's Information & Archives business) with Highfield at its head. During his tenure, Highfield oversaw a growth in the BBC's online presence from 3.5 million to 17 million users, and was responsible for the development and launch of BBC iPlayer. In 2008 he commissioned the Digital Media Initiative, a tapeless production system. The project was axed in 2013 (some five years after Highfield left) at a cost of £100m after failing to deliver. At the time of his appointment to the BBC he was the youngest ever member of the organisation's Executive Board. His department was responsible for the BBC's internet presence - bbc.co.uk, interactive TV -
BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to c ...
, mobile services, the BBC's technology portfolio and the BBC's Archive. At the BBC, Highfield claimed £47,000 in expenses between 2004 and 2009, while on a salary of £466,000; this included a subscription to Sky and two iPods. It was announced on 14 April 2008 that Highfield had been appointed the CEO of
Project Kangaroo Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), Itv.com and Channel 4's 4oD (collectively UK VOD LLP), initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked ...
. Kangaroo was a joint venture between BBC, ITV & Channel 4 offering an internet-based one stop shop for all TV programmes on-demand, which was halted by the Competition Commission. He left the project in November 2008, to work for
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
. He was UK Managing Director of Microsoft (Consumer & Online), responsible for Windows Mobile, MSN, Hotmail, Windows Live/Instant Messenger and
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
. Highfield was appointed CEO of Johnston Press in 2011. In his first full year, Highfield earned a £400,000 salary, with bonuses and pension contributions of £301,000. In his first year the company reduced its workforce by almost a quarter as Highfield dealt with a legacy of massive debt. In May 2014 JP secured a significant refinancing deal to help put the company on a secure financial footing.


Profile

He lives in central London and is divorced. He held two non-executive roles – on the boards of William Hill and the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
.


Awards

In 2003 Highfield was awarded the Digital Innovator internet award by ''The Sunday Times'' who dubbed his vision of a 100% digital Britain a "tour de force". In 2004 he was named 'most influential individual in technology' by online technology news site Silicon.Com for overseeing a number of 'firsts' for a major broadcaster, including the use of peer-to-peer, interactive TV, and multi-casting of TV. In 2007, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' placed Highfield at #31 in its annual survey of the most powerful people in the UK media industry. In 2004, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and, in 2007, a Fellow of the Royal Television Society.


References


External links


Highfield's official BBC blogThe future is to move beyond DRMDCMS review of the BBC's online service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Highfield, Ashley BBC executives 1965 births Living people