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Comic Relief has appointed top television creative Liz Warner as our new chief executive officer. Liz joins Comic Relief in October, and will be responsible for leading Comic Relief including Red Nose Day and Sport Relief as well as Comic Relief’s international expansion.
Liz was the founder and CEO of television production company betty, which she led for more than 13 years, building it from a start-up to one of the UK’s top 30 independent companies. Under Liz’s creative leadership, betty won a number of awards including an Emmy for Forgiven, a drama about child abuse and two BAFTA nominations for the ground breaking Channel 4 The Undateables series, as well as the Edinburgh Innovation Award.
Before betty, Liz held senior roles at both Channel 4 and the BBC. She was commissioning editor at Channel 4 responsible for the first Grand Designs, River Cottage and the first Big Brother as well as many campaigns on literacy, women’s health and sexual health. At the BBC she was deputy head of the BBC’s Youth department. Her programming credits include contemporary documentaries, features, factual drama and factual entertainment, much of it infused with social purpose such as The Autistic Gardener C4, Breaking Up with the Jones’s C4 and BBC3’s Spendaholics. She has worked with the most talented artists in the UK broadcast industry.
This year Liz was invited to deliver the BAFTA annual television lecture in recognition of her career achievements and in 2014 the cross broadcaster Cultural Diversity Network awarded her Diversity Champion for her commitment to diversity, in particular disability.
Tim Davie, chair of trustees at Comic Relief, said: “We are delighted Liz is joining. She is known as an innovator and has an award winning body of TV work. She has a track record in youth, diversity and has spent the last year working in digital – all of which make her a great candidate for the future of Comic Relief.
“She brings energy and enthusiasm and creative vision to take Comic Relief to the next stage in the charity’s development.”
Liz Warner, newly appointed CEO of Comic Relief, said: “I have always been hugely motivated by social issues, I really enjoy leading creative teams and working with top talent to do ground-breaking work. I am very interested in brands, business and their evolution. And this unique role at Comic Relief brings all these together.”
