Nominations and Governance Committee report
Board appointments
The Board’s Nominations and Governance Committee is responsible for making recommendations on appointments to the Board (except for the Chairman and the nations’ members) and Board Committees in line with the requirements of the Charter and the Corporate Code. It also oversees succession planning for the Board as well as corporate governance arrangements and Board effectiveness.
I was joined on the Committee during the year by non-executive members Caroline Thomson, as Senior Independent Director, Damon Buffini and Muriel Gray, as well as Tim Davie for matters not related to Director-General succession. The Committee met six times (including one extraordinary meeting), and we conducted business offline as necessary.
The key activity undertaken by the Committee this year was the recruitment search and appointment of the new Director-General, following the resignation of Tim Davie on 9 November 2025. The work was supported by Egon Zehnder, an independent company who raised no additional conflicts during the process. The search was open, thorough and intensive and the Committee were delighted to come to a unanimous view that Matt Brittin was the outstanding candidate for the role. The Board approved this recommendation in March and Matt started in the role on 18 May 2026. The Committee also proposed that Rhodri Talfan Davies act as interim Director-General in the intervening period, which was approved at the same meeting.
The Nominations Committee also led the recruitment process for one new non-executive to the Board: Jody Ford who replaced Shumeet Banerji as of 12 January 2026. The process was supported by Egon Zehnder. The Board also appointed a new executive member, Bérangère Michel, BBC Group Chief Financial Officer, who was appointed for two years from 5 January 2026. The Committee also continued with a succession planning and development exercise which had started in the previous year regarding the BBC’s senior executives, and which was supported by an independent organisational consulting firm, Korn Ferry. The Board also commissioned a refreshed skills audit, to help inform the process for recruitment of new members on the coming year. More information on the Board’s work on effectiveness can be found in the Corporate Compliance report.
The Committee is responsible for reviewing the membership of its sub-committees ensuring that they are provided with the right mix of skills and experience and that their workload is spread fairly between non-executives. As the new Senior Independent Director, Caroline Thomson replaced Nicholas Serota on the Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee and the Nominations and Governance Committee. The membership of the Nations Committees was reviewed and adjusted to ensure the Nations members as Chairs were well-supported by both non-executives and executives. Following a successful pilot year, the decision to add senior leaders from BBC Content division to the attendance of the Nations Committees was formally agreed.
The Committee is also responsible for the review of declarations of personal interests and the independence of members of the Board, which it conducted in September 2025. It regularly reviews and monitors Board members external professional activities for conflicts of interest and to ensure the conditions of the appointment are fulfilled. As part of this process the Committee also keeps Directors’ overall time commitments under review.
Samir ShahChairman29 June 2026
Board member tenure, as at 29 June 2026
| Tenure | Board members |
|---|---|
0–2 years | 2 |
2–5 years | 7 |
5–9 years | 2 |
Meeting attendance
| April 2025 to March 2026 | Board | Audit and Risk Committee | Nominations and Governance Committee | Remuneration and People Committee | Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee | Editorial Guidelines Committee | Nations Committee – England | Nations Committee – Scotland | Nations Committee – Wales | Nations Committee – N. Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of meetings for the period | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4** | 4** | 4** | 4** |
Non-executives |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samir Shah | 6 |
| 5 |
| 4 of 5 |
|
| 3 of 4 |
|
|
Shumeet Banerji* | 1 of 3 | 2 of 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Damon Buffini | 5 of 6 |
| 5 | 3 of 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jody Ford* | 2 of 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robbie Gibb | 6 |
|
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
|
|
|
Muriel Gray | 6 |
| 4 of 5 | 6 |
|
|
| 4 |
|
|
Chris Jones | 6 | 5 |
|
|
| 1 |
|
|
|
|
Michael Plaut | 6 | 5 |
|
|
|
| 4 |
| 4 |
|
Michael Smyth | 6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 | 4 |
Marinella Soldi | 6 |
|
| 1 of 1 |
| 1 |
|
|
|
|
Caroline Thomson* | 6 |
| 4 of 4 |
| 3 of 3 | 1 |
|
|
| 3 of 3 |
Executives |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Davie* | 6 |
| 3 of 5*** |
| 5 | 0 of 1 |
|
|
|
|
Rhodri Talfan Davies* | 1 of 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bérangère Michel* | 2 of 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leigh Tavaziva | 6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deborah Turness* | 2 of 3 |
|
|
| 3 of 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
This table does not include extraordinary meetings or business conducted offline.
* Nick Serota's term on the board ended 2 April 2025. He did not attend any meetings in this financial year. Caroline Thomson's term started 3 April 2025. Deborah Turness stood down from the Board 9 November 2025. Shumeet Banerji resigned from the Board 21 November 2025. Bérangère Michel joined the Board 5 January 2026; Jody Ford joined the Board 12 January 2026, Rhodri Talfan Davies joined the board on 1 February 2026, Tim Davie stood down from the Board 2 April 2026. Matt Brittin joined the Board on 18 May 2026.
** In March 2026, a joint meeting of the four Nation committee was held in Glasgow. This is considered a full meeting of each committee.
*** Tim Davie not present at two meetings as the discussion was on Director-General succession.
