Tess is a marketing and advertising professional. She is currently a NED at Channel 4 where she sits on the remuneration committee and is the board member responsible for liaison with the employee representative groups.
She was the founding CEO of Thinkbox, the central marketing body for commercial TV, and latterly its Chair. Prior to this, she was the UK Chair of PHD, the global media agency within the Omnicom group. After an English degree from Durham, she worked briefly in theatre in education before beginning her ‘proper’ career selling TV airtime, rising eventually to ITV sales director before moving to the agency side.
She has served on various boards including the Advertising Standards Authority, Creative and Cultural Skills, BBC Magazines, and The Royal Academy of Arts. She is a member of BAFTA.