Phil Riley, Orion
Phil Riley is chairman of Orion Media, owner of Free Radio as well as a video production company.
His career in local radio – largely in the Midlands – spans more than 35 years, beginning on BRMB in 1980. He joined Chrysalis in 1994 and was managing director and launch director of Heart FM, taking the brand to London soon after. In 2007, he led the sale of the company to Global Radio.
Teaming up with LDC, he bought the BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern stations, changing the brand names to Free and Gem.
Joe Godwin, BBC Birmingham
Joe Godwin is director of the BBC Academy, based in Birmingham. He has responsibility for maintaining the skill levels of BBC content, journalists and digital creative experts in the UK and overseas. He is also head of centre for BBC Birmingham responsible for all BBC initiatives in the region. He was previously head of news, factual and entertainment, and also head of children’s entertainment.
Marc Reeves, Trinity Mirror
As editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror Midlands which publishes the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail, of which he is also editor, and the Coventry Telegraph plus a host of other daily and weekly newspapers, Marc Reeves oversees the largest audience of any Midland media organisation.
He has more than 25 years of experience in regional press and digital news outlets and is committed to developing regional news brands online and in print.
Keith Harrison, Express and Star
Keith Harrison is editor of the Express and Star which has Wolverhampton and the Black Country as its heartland. He is also editorial director of the Express and Star’s parent, the Midlands News Association which includes the Shropshire Star and a string of weeklies.
His brief when he took over the editorship was to modernise the news operation, which he has done with “multi-platform journalists”, greater online presence and removing complexity from the production of local editions.
Adrian Goldberg, BBC
Journalist and broadcaster Adrian Goldberg fronts BBC Radio WM’s breakfast show. He returned to the morning slot last year in his third spell as presenter. He left the breakfast show in 2006 to work as a freelance but returned four years ago after a stint at Talksport. He left again to concentrate on radio and TV documentaries but returned in March last year. He still hosts Five Live Investigates on Sundays. He worked on the BBC’s Watchdog, and ran the news and campaigning website and Birmingham Mail column The Stirrer, which he shut down in 2010.
Ed James, Heart FM
Ed James has presented the breakfast show on Heart FM since 2002, with co-host Rachel New. He is chairman of Birmingham Press Club – the oldest press club in the world – and on the council of the Publicity Association of Central England. He supports several charities and is an ambassador for the NSPCC. He has a politics degree from Newcastle University.
Sir Michael Lyons
Sir Michael Lyons is a former chairman of the BBC Trust, and is a non-executive chairman of the English Cities Fund. A Labour councillor in Birmingham in the early 80s, he was chief executive of Wolverhampton, Nottingham and Birmingham local authorities, and was knighted in 2000 for services to local government. A Sutton Coldfield resident, he is a former chairman of the CBSO and served on the boards of Birmingham Marketing Partnership and City Pride. He is a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Bob Warman, Central ITV
Bob Warman is one of the best known faces on Midland television, having presented the news on independent television for more than 40 years. Apart from a short break at Yorkshire Television, he has been constant presence on ITV’s Central News. Walsall-born, he trained in print journalism before moving into television. He is a patron of Acorns Hospice, vice-chairman of Birmingham Civic Society and a board member of Birmingham Press Club.
Paul Bradshaw, BCU
Paul Bradshaw leads the MA in online journalism at Birmingham City University which he established in 2009.
He is also a visiting professor in online journalism at City University, London. With a background in magazine and website management he published the online journalism blog which UK Press Gazette described as “one of the country’s most influential journalism blogs” He is also founder of the investigative journalism crowd-sourcing site Help Me Investigate.
Michelle Gesell, Trinity Mirror
Michelle Gesell is one of Trinity Mirror’s new regional managing directors in a structure put in place after TM’s acquisition of publisher Local World.
She is regional MD of Trinity Mirror West Midlands. She was previously managing director of Local World’s Staffordshire titles including the Stoke-based Sentinel and titles in Tamworth, Leek and Stafford. She has worked in the newspaper industry for 30 years.
