ITN announces new Chair

ITN announces today that Christy Swords has been appointed as the new company Chair.

Christy was appointed as ITV plc's representative on the ITN Board in September 2017, and will take over the chair from Geert Linnebank with immediate effect. Geert, who was appointed Chair in September 2015, will remain an active member of the non-executive board as the shareholder representative for Thomson Reuters.

Christy is the Director for Finance and Operations for ITV Broadcasting and Online. He has undertaken a number of roles across ITV, including as Director of Regulatory Affairs, Director of Investor Relations and Launch Director for ITV Encore and ITVBe. He also sits on the ITV Broadcasting Board and has represented the company on the boards of YouView, Freesat, Digital UK, BARB and Britbox US. Prior to ITV, Christy worked in public affairs for GPC and Prima Europe, and for Japanese broadcaster NHK in London and Tokyo.

Finding a new Chief Executive of ITN will be one of Christy's first priorities following CEO John Hardie's decision to step down from his role at the end of the year.

Geert Linnebank said: It has been an honour to chair ITN's board as it has evolved into a truly world class production company. The business has gone from strength to strength, with the foundations laid for sustained long-term growth.

Christy Swords said: I am delighted to be taking over as chairman of ITN from Geert Linnebank. I know that all ITN's shareholders are grateful to Geert for leading the Board over the last three years. The Board's clear priority is to appoint a new CEO. I look forward to working with the whole Board on moving that process forward.

ITN has made significant progress over recent years both as the UK's leading commercial news supplier and a substantial UK and international producer. There are strong foundations to build upon for ITN's next chapter.

ITN CEO John Hardie said: Christy is becoming Chair at an exciting moment in ITN's modern history. The company is in great health, producing more diverse content, to international acclaim, for a wider range of clients than ever before. The future is very bright and I look forward to working with Christy on the smooth transition to a new Chief Executive.

ITN has four shareholders: ITV plc (40%), Daily Mail and General Trust (20%), Reuters (20%) and Informa plc (20%).

Press contact: Laura Roberts / laura.roberts@itn.co.uk / 020 7430 4825

Notes to editors:

ITN is a world-class production company made up of two business divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions.

Our Broadcast News business produces award-winning daily news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, providing high quality, impartial news to the British public, reaching an accumulated peak audience of up to 12.3m viewers. ITN's world-leading journalism has garnered critical acclaim and since 2009 has won eight International Emmy Awards, seven BAFTAs and five RTS Television Journalism News Programme of the Year Awards.

Formed in 2010, ITN Productions our independent production company has gone from a £7m to a £40m business winning international acclaim at the highest level, including an Oscar nomination, a US Emmy Award and a Cannes Lion Award. Its broad portfolio includes factual TV series commissions from Netflix, ITV, BBC and Discovery ID as well as award-winning adverts for the likes of The National Lottery and Virgin Holidays. ITN Productions is the joint venture production partner for the IAAF and broadcast and digital producer for the EFL, and also syndicates high-impact global news content for online and broadcast audiences around the world.

Read ITN's 2017 Annual Report here

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