Channel 4 Promotes Jonathan Allen To CEO

Channel 4 has announced that Jonathan Allan has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer as part of a restructured leadership team which brings together all the key operational functions into a newly expanded COO's office.

In the new role, Jonathan – who is currently Chief Commercial Officer – will oversee a number of departments including: All 4, Communications & Corporate Affairs, Consumer & Strategy, Content Management, Finance, HR, Nations & Regions and Technology. Finance Director Vince Russell, who joined Channel 4 from Sky in 2018, will take on additional responsibilities for leading Workspace and will report directly to Jonathan.

Keith Underwood has decided to take this moment to pursue new opportunities and will leave Channel 4 at the end of January. Keith, who has been part of the Executive team at Channel 4 for eight years as COO and previously Director of Strategy & Technology, has played a significant role in Channel 4’s success – in particular leading the launch of All 4, transforming digital development capabilities, rebuilding and repositioning the finance function, and successfully delivering the operational elements of the 4 All the UK programme.

As a result of these changes Chief Consumer & Strategy Officer, Sarah Rose will also be leaving Channel 4 after the summer. Sarah has made a lasting contribution to a range of key business areas at Channel 4, including launching VOD, leading the commercial and business development teams, and most recently the consumer insight, data and strategy department. For the next few months she will continue to work closely with the Exec team to oversee key strategic partnerships.