Charles Gurassa, chair
Charles Gurassa joined the board and was appointed chair in March 2022. Charles is also a board chair at Oxfam, the Migration Museum in London and Great Rail Journeys Ltd.
Charles has previously held board appointments in a number of industries, including with Virgin Mobile, LoveFilm, easyJet and the National Trust. In his earlier executive career, he was chief executive of Thomson Travel Group, executive chairman of TUI Northern Europe and a director at British Airways.
Anna Bateson
Chief executive, Guardian Media Group
Anna Bateson is the chief executive of Guardian Media Group (GMG), a role she took up in September 2022.
Anna worked at the Guardian from 2016 onward, first as VP for platforms and partnerships and then from 2017-2020 as chief customer officer, and briefly as interim chief executive.
Prior to the Guardian, Anna worked at a number of tech and media organisations, including YouTube, Google, ITV, MTV and Bloomberg, and was most recently CEO at a VC-backed e-commerce beauty business.
Katharine Viner
Katharine Viner is editor-in-chief of the Guardian, a position she has held since June 2015. She joined the Guardian as a writer in 1997. She was appointed deputy editor of the Guardian in 2008, launched the award-winning Guardian Australia in 2013, and was also editor of Guardian US, based in New York.
Katharine gave the 2013 AN Smith lecture in journalism at the University of Melbourne – the rise of the reader – discussing journalism in the age of the open web, and a speech on “truth and reality in a hyper-connected world” as part of the Oxford University Women of Achievement Lecture Series in May 2016. She is the winner of the 2017 Diario Madrid prize for journalism for her long read: How technology disrupted the truth.
Keith Underwood
Keith joined GMG in June 2020 as chief financial and operating officer and is responsible for financial stewardship, operational performance and helping to shape the strategic direction of the group. Keith served as interim chief executive of GMG from June 2021-September 2022.
Keith has worked in the media industry for over 20 years and has substantial experience in successfully leading a wide range of business functions. He spent over 8 years on the Executive Committee at Channel 4, most recently as its CFO/COO. Before joining Channel 4, Keith was employed by Discovery Networks International, Sky and PwC.
Keith is now a Board member of the Digital Catapult (the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre), having previously served as Chairman of Freeview and a Board director of Digital UK and YouView.
Emily Bell
Emily Bell is Founding Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School. The majority of Emily’s career was spent at Guardian News and Media in London working as an award winning writer and editor both in print and online. As editor-in-chief across Guardian websites and director of digital content for Guardian News and Media, Emily led the web team in pioneering live blogging, multimedia formats, data and social media ahead, making the Guardian a recognized pioneer in the field. Emily is a member of Columbia Journalism Review’s board of overseers, an adviser to Tamedia Group in Switzerland, chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on social media, and a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board.
Trei Brundrett
Trei joined the board in July 2023. Trei is a co-founder of Vox Media where he held a range of leadership roles, most recently as chief operating officer. He was instrumental in growing the company from a collection of sports blogs to a ground-breaking media organisation with a portfolio of brands and a large audience across digital, podcasts, TV, streaming, live events, and print.
Trei also holds board positions at The Texas Tribune, McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas, Montclair Local, and Open News.
Ete Davies
Ete Davies is Dentsu Creative’s EVP, across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Prior to joining Dentsu Creative, Ete was CEO of Engine:Creative (now House337) where he transformed the agency – culminating in it being recognised amongst Fast Company’s 100 most innovative companies 2021.
With over 24 years’ experience in the creative sector working at some of the world’s premier creative agencies including AKQA, Tribal Worldwide, Digitas and AnalogFolk where, while as managing director, the agency consistently ranked amongst the UK’s top creative agencies and was recognised in the Financial Times ‘UK Future 100’. His experience spans many sectors from financial services, travel, technology, FMCG to automotive, for both national and global brands. He’s led multi-national, multi-disciplined teams scaling from project to global network level with specialisms in brand advertising, digital experience, innovation and business transformation.
Ete is also non-executive director for global comms agency Manifest; as well as a trustee for the Creative Foundation (UK) and vice-chair at MediaTrust, as well as chair for the Advertising Associations ‘all-in’ working group for Black, African and Caribbean heritage communities and a member of the Effie’s UK Council.
Stephen Godsell
Stephen Godsell joined GMG in 2017 as general counsel and company secretary. Prior to this he was group general counsel and company secretary at PA Group, and has held senior positions at The Economist Group and Clifford Chance. Stephen is a board director and trustee of The Economist Educational Foundation, a member of the Joint Committee on Legal Deposit and a freeman of the City of London.
Yasmin Jetha
Yasmin Jetha joined the board in February 2018. She is a non-executive
director of NatWest Group plc as well as Nation Media Group (East Africa). During her executive career, Yasmin held chief information officer roles at Bupa and the Financial Times, where she became the chief operating officer. She previously had a career spanning nearly 20 years at Abbey National PLC, latterly serving as an executive director on the board.
Debbie Klein
Debbie joined the board in September 2023. Debbie has over 20 years experience in the media and advertising industry. Until recently she was group chief marketing, corporate affairs and people officer at Sky, where she oversaw the group’s HR, diversity and inclusion, communications, public affairs and brand work across Europe. Debbie is also a non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society.
Baroness Gail Rebuck
Gail Rebuck joined the board in January 2016 and is the senior independent director for GMG. After co-founding a publishing company in 1982, Baroness Gail Rebuck DBE went on to become the CEO of Random House UK for 22 years from 1991 to 2013. She is currently a director of Penguin Random House and sits on the group management committee of Bertelsmann, chairing the UK Content Alliance.
Gail was a non-executive director of BSkyB and the Belmond hotel group and chaired the Council of the Royal College of Art until 2022. She is currently chair of the Somerset House Trust.
Gail founded World Book Day and Quick Reads on behalf of the publishing industry. She was awarded a CBE in 2000 and made a Dame in 2009. Gail entered the House of Lords in 2014 and sits on the Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee.
René Rechtman
René Rechtman joined the board in March 2020. René is an experienced leader of digital content and advertising businesses, and is CEO of Moonbug Entertainment, a digital media business focused on children’s entertainment headquartered in London, which he founded in 2018.
He was previously president of international for Maker Studios and, after its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, its head of non-linear media. Earlier in his career he co-founded and held leading roles with a number of fast-growing digital businesses, including Goviral (acquired by AOL in 2015) and Tradedoubler (listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 2005). He also sits on the board of leading Danish media company JP/Politikens Hus.
Mary Ann Sieghart
Mary Ann Sieghart is a journalist and broadcaster, who has worked for The Times, The Independent, The Economist, The Financial Times and the BBC. She is founding partner of The Authority Gap Consultancy, visiting professor at King’s College London, senior trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, and senior independent director of Pantheon International. Mary Ann has been chair of the Social Market Foundation think tank, non-executive director of The Merchants Trust, senior independent director of Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust and sat on the content board of Ofcom and the Council of Tate Modern.
Coram Williams
Coram Williams joined the board in January 2017. Coram is chief financial officer of the Adecco Group, the world’s leading HR solutions company. Previously he was CFO of education company Pearson Plc, Penguin Random House – the world’s largest consumer publisher – and prior to that CFO of the Penguin Group. Coram began his professional career at Autocar, a British motoring magazine, as a news reporter and road tester.