New team to lead bfi announced

Amanda Nevill, bfi Director, has revealed her new Executive Team, which now balances successful, leading figures from the world of film and moving image culture with senior private sector executives who bring considerable managerial and commercial experience.
Eddie Berg, founder and Chief Executive of FACT in Liverpool, widely regarded as Britain's most innovative centre for film, video and new media art, becomes the Artistic Director, National Centre for the Moving Image, charged with leading the expanded National Film Theatre and creating a new, iconic national and international centre for the moving image in all its forms.
Catharine Pusey, newly-appointed Director of bfi Trading, has extensive experience of managing change and growth in publishing and related services for the media, arts and entertainment sectors as Managing Director of EMAP Media Ltd.
Heather Stewart, as Cultural Director (UK Wide), will be responsible for developing new audiences across the UK through education and other access channels, opening up and developing the bfi National Film & Television Archive and the bfi National Library, and establishing greater co-ordination between the bfi and national and regional partners.
Roy Payne, bfi Director of Communications, has senior public and private sector experience of strategic broadcasting, media, film, consumer and new media communications, holding senior positions at the Department for National Heritage (now the Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and at Cable & Wireless.
Francesca Vinti, previously the V&A’s highly successful Deputy Director of Development, is now the Development Director at the bfi.
Jeannette Wilkins, bfi Finance Director, was previously Finance Director at ITV Digital after many years experience with Granada TV.
Sandra Hebron, for two years the very successful Artistic Director at bfi Film Festivals, is responsible for both the bfi London Film Festival and the bfi London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, two of Europe’s leading film festivals.
In addition, the Executive Team will include Jill McLaughlin, the current experienced bfi Director of Resources and Planning, and Jim Hamilton, the highly-successful and much-regarded Head of National Film Theatre & Exhibition, who reports to Eddie Berg, the Artistic Director of the expanded NFT and of the new National Centre for the Moving Image.
Commenting on the new Executive, Amanda Nevill said: “This is a strong and experienced team combining proven cultural achievers with successful commercial executives. Drawn from a wide range of regional and sector backgrounds, it is a team of inspirers, capable of driving forward our ambitious vision for the future of the bfi.
“We live in an all-embracing multi-channel audio-visual world. Moving image, whether film, television or video, touches everyone at some level, regardless of age or background. Building upon the richness of the bfi’s 70-year legacy our task now is to engage with the many communities across the UK, making the full diversity of moving image culture and heritage more readily accessible and relevant. I believe this new Executive team are the dynamic force capable of achieving just that.”
The appointment of a new Executive Board follows a year-long major Strategic Review by the bfi. Engaging all staff, and with the support and encouragement of the UK Film Council and Department for Media, Culture & Sport, the Review concluded that the organisation had to be more ‘outward-facing’, reaching more young and diverse audiences, by developing an ambitious forward plan of dynamic new initiatives.
(GB)