National Theatre Wales has announced who will take over from Phil George as the chair of the organisation’s board.
The vacancy arouse with the move of former chair Phil George to take the chair of the Arts Council of Wales.
The new chair will be Clive Jones who comes from a broadcast background.
Clive Jones was born at Llanfrechfa, near Pontypool, grew up in the Ebbw and Sirhowy valleys and was educated at Newbridge Grammar School before completing his degree at the London School of Economics. Since then, he has amassed a wealth of experience in a 39-year career in broadcasting, both at home in Wales and in London.
Clive was the Chief Executive of ITV News and Regions until 2007. Before that, he was Managing Director of the ITV Network, of Central Television and of London News Network, chairman of GMTV and CEO of the Carlton Television Group. He continues his link with ITV as deputy chairman of the company’s pension fund.
As a consultant he chaired the Peer Review of the BFI/UK Film Council for the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media & Sports (DCMS) and oversaw the multi-million pound digitisation of the ITV and Channel Four newsrooms for ITN.
More recently, Clive has served as chairman of ITV Wales, the Wales IP Fund for the Welsh Assembly Government, and was a non-executive director of S4C and S4C Masnachol’s board for five years.
This will not be Clive’s first experience of working with theatres; he served for 12 years on the board of the Young Vic Theatre, stepping down earlier this year.
He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Television Society in 1995 and its Gold Medal, the Society’s highest award, in 2007. In the same year he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to broadcasting.
Today, Clive is a director of the new Swansea-based television and production company Provenance Pictures, chairman of Pro Cam, Britain’s biggest television facilities hire company, Energetic Communications, the New York marketing and events company and The Runnymede Trust, Britain’s leading diversity think tank.
Clive is married to Vikki Heywood CBE, the former managing director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, now chair of the Royal Society for the Arts, and they live in London and Tenby.
Clive said: “I am delighted to be joining National Theatre Wales, which I have long regarded as one of the most exciting and innovative theatre companies in the UK. To have built such a fine national and international reputation in such a short time is a credit to the inspired artistic leadership and commitment of the board. It is fantastic to be joining National Theatre Wales at such an exciting time.”
National Theatre Wales’ Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Kully Thiarai, said: “I am thrilled that Clive will be joining us as our new Chair. He brings with him an extraordinary wealth of experience, knowledge and insight and I look forward to working with him and the board to ensure National Theatre Wales remains an ambitious and artistically exciting company.”