EBU members have elected a new executive board to lead the union for two from January 2019.
Nine public service media executives from across Europe will join president Tony Hall (BBC) and VP Delphine Ernotte Cunci (France Télévisions) on the board, which is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the EBU’s strategy and policies.
Ibrahim Eren, Marcello Foa, Giacomo Ghisani, Sergei Pavlov and Gonçalo Reis all join the board for the first time.
Ibrahim Eren has been DG of Turkish Radio Television (TRT) since July 2017 while Marcello Foa was appointed president of Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai) earlier this year.
Giacomo Ghisani is the acting DG of Radio Vaticana; Sergei Pavlov is director of international relations and member of the board of directors for Channel One Russia and Gonçalo Reis has been president of the board and CEO of Radio Television Portugal (RTP) since 2015.
Cilla Benkö (SR), Petr Dvorák (CT), Ulrich Wilhelm (ARD/BR) and Gilles Marchand (SRG SSR) were all re-elected to serve a new term on the board.
Commenting on the development, incoming president Tony Hall said: “I welcome this new EBU executive board. Public service media has never been more important or more needed. As we begin our EBU presidency in January, Delphine Ernotte Cunci and I look forward to working closely with the new board and the EBU DG Noel Curran, as well as with all EBU members and staff.
“It’s a time of great excitement and opportunity in global media. And I firmly believe that the time for public service media has come – with brilliant local content, impartial news and a universal mission that brings us all together.
“Through working together I believe that EBU Members can deliver even more for our audiences, and I’m excited about working with the new Executive Board to deliver that ambition over the two years ahead.”
The assembly warmly thanked outgoing board members together with president Jean-Paul Philippot (RTBF) who has served as president of the EBU for the last ten years and Monica Maggioni (Rai) who has been VP since 2015.
The assembly also approved the application of the Israeli public service broadcaster (IPBC) for full membership of the EBU.
FULL EXECUTIVE BOARD LINE-UP:
President: Tony Hall, Director General, BBC (UK)
Vice-President: Delphine Ernotte Cunci, CEO, France Télévisions (France)
Cilla Benkö, Director General, SR (Sweden)
Petr Dvo?ák, Director General, CT (Czech Republic)
Ibrahim Eren, Chairman and Director General, TRT (Turkey)
Marcello Foa, President, Rai (Italy)
Giacomo Ghisani, Acting Director General, Legal Representative, RV (Vatican State)
Gilles Marchand, Director General, SRG SSR (Switzerland)
Sergei Pavlov, Director of International Relations, Member of the Board of Directors, Channel One (Russia)
Gonçalo Reis, President and CEO, RTP (Portugal)
Ulrich Wilhelm, Director General, ARD/BR (Germany)
The board will serve for a 2-year period from January 2019 to December 2020.
