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http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Purnell to rejoin BBC http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1360865404 Message started by Administrator on Feb 14^th, 2013, 6:11pm

Title: Purnell to rejoin BBC
Post by Administrator on Feb 14^th, 2013, 6:11pm

Former Labour culture secretary Purnell to rejoin BBC

This is courtesy of www.televisual.com.

Former Labour culture secretary James Purnell is to rejoin the BBC as director of strategy and digital.

The appointment was announced today by incoming BBC director general Tony Hall, and was billed as the first in a series of appointments to the BBC’s senior management team.

Acting director general Tim Davie has been given an expanded role at BBC Worldwide, while Helen Boaden becomes director of BBC Radio.

Purnell, currently a senior producer at documentary indie Rare Day and adviser to the Boston Consulting Group, will join on 20th March and earn £295k a year. He left politics in 2010 and is currently on the board of the British Film Institute and the Royal National Theatre.

Purnell became an MP in 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, resigning from the Government in 2009 after criticising the leadership of Gordon Brown.

Purnell was previously the BBC’s head of corporate planning in the 1990s.

In his new job, Purnell will lead on developing the BBC's strategy, with a remit that includes running the Strategy, Digital, Communications, Policy, Public Affairs, Marketing and Audiences divisions.

As a former Culture Secretary with an inside knowledge of the workings of governement, he is expected to play a key role for the BBC in the lead up to charter renewal in 2016.

Purnell said: “I'm really excited to be coming back to the BBC, to work on its future with such a great team. Over the last couple of years, producing and developing programmes has rekindled my passion for the career I had before politics. I feel very lucky to have the chance to return to the BBC at such an important time.”

Hall has also announced that following nearly five months as acting director-general, Davie’s new role at BBC Worldwide has been expanded to incorporate a more strategic global perspective. As CEO, BBC Worldwide and Director, Global, Davie will be responsible for developing the BBC’s international brand and editorial strategy.

Davie added: "I am very pleased to take on the important task of building the BBC brand globally and leading a growing, creative BBC Worldwide."

As well as the appointments above, Helen Boaden will be taking up the post of director of BBC Radio (formerly called director of audiences and music).

Boaden, who is currently director of BBC News, is a former controller of BBC Radio 4.

The BBC will now start the search for a new director of BBC News and a director of BBC Television.

Hall said: “I am building a senior team that will define the BBC and public service broadcasting for the next decade. It will be a team that is made up of outstanding talent from outside the BBC combined with the best people from within.

“There will be more changes over the coming months and there is a lot of hard work ahead but today’s appointments are the first steps in delivering that vision.”