Marcus Ryder has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of the Film and TV Charity, replacing Alex Pumfrey who stepped down earlier this year. Ryder takes up his role in early autumn.  
 

Ryder’s 25 years’ experience in the media most recently included working as head of external consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, set up to explore and increase diversity across the media industry; he was also a senior executive at the BBC. 
 

He is also the chair of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and is currently a trustee of the Press Pad Charitable Foundation. In 2022, he was named one of the 500 most influential people in the global film industry by Variety, and this summer he is due to be awarded the Percy Qoboza award in the US by the National Association of Black Journalists as one of its foreign journalists of the year.
 

Ryder said of his appointment: “The Film and TV Charity is an incredible source of support for people working behind the scenes across the film, TV, and cinema industry, acting as a vital enabler for those facing disadvantage, financial hardship and poor mental health. 
 

“It is recognised throughout the sector for making a significant contribution to the health and happiness of people working across the industry, and to its future sustainability, and I have admired how, through its research work, it has done much to shape the debate about how we treat the brilliant people who form the bedrock of the UK’s creative sector. 
 

“The organisation and I also share a deep-seated understanding that the Charity will only be able to fulfil its core aims if it helps the industry address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. I cannot wait to get to work to shape and implement a shared, ambitious strategy to make further strides across all of these priorities.”
 

The charity’s board announced at the same time that Claire Tavernier has been appointed as the organisation’s new chair of trustees, with immediate effect. She was previously global head of digital at Fremantle, MD of a multi-channel YouTube network, and CEO of media intervention NGO, Girl Effect. 

She is currently also chair of trustees at Charity Digital, an organisation that has helped more than 400,000 charity workers embrace a digital-first approach, and is a non-executive director at the BBFC and a trustee of the Institute of Imagination.