Board of Commissioners - Biographies

Philip Graf CBE (Chairman)

Philip Graf is Chairman of CfBT Education Trust, a leading education consultancy and service organisation, and an associate of Praesta Partners LLP. He is also Vice Chairman of Crisis.

A Cambridge law graduate, Philip joined the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo in 1983, which became Trinity International Holdings in 1985. He subsequently became Chief Executive in 1993. He became Chief Executive of Trinity Mirror Group when the company merged with the Mirror Group in 1999 – a position he held until February 2003. In 2003 he was asked by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to carry out a review of the BBC’s online activities.

He is a former Chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance – the body which funds the Press Complaints Commission – and of the Broadband Stakeholder Group – the advisory group to the Government on the promotion of broadband services. He was also Vice Chairman of Ofcom until the end of 2011.

Robin Dahlberg

Robin Dahlberg is the Vice Chair of the Security Industry Authority. He is also a board member of the Health and Safety Executive. He is Chair of Orbit Heart of England Housing Association and a non-executive board member of Orbit Group Ltd. He has worked extensively with Citizens Advice and is currently a trustee of its Pension and Assurance Plan. He is also the Treasurer of Jubilee Gardens Trust and was previously Vice Chair of Waterloo Community Development Group and a trustee of Florence Nightingale Museum Trust. He was formerly a board member of the Local Better Regulation Office and a lay member of the Advisory Panel on Standards for the Planning Inspectorate. His earlier professional experience involved IT management systems and internet security.

Ben Gunn CBE QPM (appointment extended till 31 March 2012)

Ben Gunn was Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire from 1993 to 2002. On his retirement he was appointed Chairman of the Joint Jockey Club/British Horseracing Board Security Review which reported on the Integrity of Horseracing in Great Britain in 2003.

In 2008 he jointly undertook a Review of the Integrity of Professional Tennis worldwide and was a member of the Parry Expert Panel which was set up by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in 2009 to examine integrity in sports betting. He is a non-executive Director of the British Horseracing Authority as well as being the senior partner in Campbell Gunn Associates, Consultants in sports' integrity; he is also a trustee of the Child Victims of Crime Charity.

Bill Knight (appointment extended till 31 March 2012)

Bill Knight is a solicitor. He is Chairman of the Financial Reporting Review Panel and a Director of the Financial Reporting Council. He is a former Deputy Chairman of Lloyd’s Council and a former Chairman of the Enforcement Committee of the General Insurance Standards Council and of the Law Society’s Company Law Committee. He was senior partner at Simmons & Simmons until 2001.

Rachel Lampard

Rachel Lampard leads an ecumenical team shaping Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Church work on political and social issues. She was previously a trustee of the Responsibility in Gambling Trust and is currently on the executive committee of the Society for the Study of Gambling.

Anthony Lilley OBE

Anthony Lilley is the Chief Creative Officer and CEO of Magic Lantern Productions Ltd. He is a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University and a non-executive Director of Zespa Media Ltd. As well as advising a wide range of public sector organisations including NESTA and Arts Council England concerning the use of technology in the arts and media, he is a patron of UK Media Literacy Taskforce, a member of the OFCOM Content Board and of the British Screen Advisory Council, a trustee of English National Opera, and Chairman of Lighthouse, the digital culture agency. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and former Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford. He was awarded the OBE in 2008 for services to media and creative industries. 

Walter Merricks CBE

Walter Merricks is a solicitor. He is currently Chairman of the Office of Health Professions Adjudicator and Chairman of the Trustee Board at the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. He is also a board member of Ombudsman Services Ltd and Service Complaint Adjudicator for the Legal Ombudsman. He was Chief Ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service and was previously Insurance Ombudsman. He had been Assistant Secretary-General at The Law Society following an earlier career as a lecturer in law and in legal journalism. He was a board member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, including periods as its Deputy Chairman and Interim Chairman. He was awarded a CBE in 2007 for his contribution to the financial services industry. 

Gill Milburn (appointment extended till 31 March 2012)

Gill Milburn had a career in taxation and marketing prior to a long career break during which she undertook non-executive roles for voluntary organisations. She served as a Magistrate for 12 years, sitting on Chester Magistrates Court's Youth, Licensing and Enforcement Panels and was active in offender resettlement programs. More recently she acted as consultant to a youth leadership program in Washington DC. In 2009 she moved to the West Midlands and works for Building Community Advocacy, a third sector mental health organisation. Gill is a board member of Dimensions UK, a leading learning disability charity.

Eve Salomon (appointment extended till 31 March 2012)

Eve Salomon is Chair of the Regulatory Board of RICS and Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation. She is also a director of Salomon Whittle Ltd, a consultancy which specialises in international media regulation.

Dr Graham Sharp

Dr Graham Sharp is a member of the Accounts Commission for Scotland. He originally trained as a chartered accountant with Thomson Mclintock (now KPMG) in Glasgow. He possesses a wealth of private sector experience drawn from senior positions in the financial field and worked in the City of London for many years. He has held a number of roles at board level which has included being on the board of the leading merchant bank Samuel Montagu and being a founding director of the commercial property investment company Minerva. He was a trustee of Victoria Convalescent Trust.

Peter Teague

Peter Teague is Chairman of the Audit Committee. He is currently Chief Executive of New Technology CADCAM Ltd and non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee at both Immedia Broadcasting plc and Elexon Limited. He holds one other public appointment as a member of Ofcom's Audit Committee and its Spectrum Clearance Finance Committee.

Jenny Williams (Chief Executive)

Jenny Williams became the Chief Executive of the Gaming Board, now the Gambling Commission, in 2004. She was previously a Director General at the Lord Chancellor's Department (now the Department for Justice). Before that she held a variety of policy and project management posts as a senior civil servant in the Inland Revenue, the Departments of Environment and Transport and the Home Office. She is a trustee of the homelessness charity, Connections at St. Martins and previously was a non-executive Director of Northumbrian Water Group plc, of the National Campaign for Arts and of Morley College, an adult education college.

 

Declaration of interest register - June 2011

 

Page last reviewed: January 2012