Nigel Hall
Nigel Hall is an icon in the world of television broadcast having created and produced some of the biggest shows in Television history. Starting off in the BBC Newsroom, his career really took off when he persuaded Granada Television to invest in two little known formats; You’ve Been Framed and Stars in their Eyes which continue to play on television networks around the world today.
He also has the honour of heading the original creative teams on shows as diverse as This Morning, I’m a Celebrity Get me out of Here, Red or Black, Saturday Night Takeaway, Greatest Dancer amongst others.
Promoted to Head of Light Entertainment for ITV in 2002, the legacy programmes he created during that time are still the lifeblood of that department twenty years later.
Simon Cowell changed things when offered a job by Nigel, saying, “I don’t want to work for you, I want to work with you” and Syco Entertainment was born. Within the first three years, the two biggest television shows in history (according to the Guinness Book of Records) X Factor and Got Talent were created, generating over 2 billion dollars in revenue and broadcast throughout the world.
America’s Got Talent and Susan Boyle took the Got Talent format to the very top, whilst Leona Lewis, One Direction & Little Mix took the X Factor onto every commissioner and record label executive’s wish list, making Simon Cowell the highest paid television star in the world.
Dawn Airey
Dawn was CEO of Getty Images between 2015 and 2018 and remained as a non-executive director until July 2022. Dawn is on the Boards of Channel 4, Grosvenor Estates and Blackbird. She is Chair of the FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship Board, The National Youth Theatre and Digital Theatre. Dawn was also a member of the Government’s Expert Panel for a Fan-Led Review of Football.
Dawn is a veteran of the media industry having worked in television for 30 years, holding senior positions at ITV as its first Network Controller of Kids and Daytime and latterly Managing Director of Global Content. She was also the first Director of Programmes and subsequently CEO and Chair of Channel 5. She also worked at BSKYB as Managing Director of Channels and Services. She spent 3 years as Yahoo’s SVP in EMEA.
In 2017 she was News International’s Visiting Professor of Media Studies at Brasenose College, Oxford University. She is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Television Society. In 2018 Dawn was given an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by Edge Hill University for her outstanding contributions to the media industry and took on the role of Chancellor in July 2023.
Russ Lindsay
Russ co-founded and built James Grant Media Group, the UK’s largest independent media, music and sports talent agency. With 25 plus years at the helm of James Grant (now YMU) he discovered, nurtured and managed many of the UK’s top television personalities including Ant&Dec and Simon Cowell. During his time at James Grant, he produced the majority of their productions in music, theatre and television.
Russ stepped away from talent management in 2015 to create Infinity Creative Media, a television production business that quickly established itself as a leading independent creative studio producing the highest quality content and Intellectual Property. The company successfully launched over 75 hours of global television with The All Star Cup, The Wine Show, The Classic Car Show, Art Show for Sky Arts and The Best FIFA Football Awards at the London Palladium 2017 and Royal Festival Hall 2018, with many of the shows selling in over 100 countries worldwide.
Russ also co-founded Talent Bank, which bridges the entertainment industry’s preeminent talent with a sophisticated network of digital broadcast platforms. Talent Bank create returning format content for the very best traditional & online talent across all social media and digital broadcast platforms including Rob Brydon's Brydon& series on YouTube / Podcast and Perfect 10 with Carol Vorderman.