Alex Mahon named as chief executive of Channel 4

Alex Mahon is to succeed David Abraham as the next Chief Executive of Channel 4.

Currently CEO of vfx business Foundry, Mahon was previously CEO of Shine Group.

Her appointment as the first female chief executive of Channel 4 comes just days after C4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt dropped out of the running.

Mahon will join Channel 4 in the autumn, with an exact start to be confirmed. David Abraham, who announced his intention to step down in March, will continue in post as Chief Executive until Mahon starts at Channel 4.

Charles Gurassa, Channel 4’s Chair said: “Alex is an outstanding leader and a highly experienced CEO who has developed and grown major international businesses in both the creative and technology sectors. She brings an impressive combination of relevant experience and is brilliantly placed to help steer Channel 4 through the competitive challenges and opportunities ahead.

“She is a great enthusiast for Channel 4 and its unique public service remit and her recent work with government will be valuable in facilitating constructive dialogue with the new administration.”

Mahon said: “Channel 4’s unique remit to innovate and to appeal to young and diverse audiences make it an essential part of British culture. There is nowhere in the world like Channel 4 and, in these changing times, its mission is more important than ever. I’m incredibly proud to be joining Channel 4 and bring to it experience both of leading creative organisations at scale and dealing with an environment of constant technological change."

Since 2015 Mahon has been CEO at Foundry, a developer of software for high-end visual effects, 3D, virtual and augmented reality. It has offices in the UK, USA, China and Ireland – and works with clients across the entertainment, design and digital sectors including Disney, Sony Pictures, Facebook and Google.

Mahon was previously CEO of Shine Group, departing in 2015 after its merger with Endemol.

She joined Shine as Managing Director in 2006 and built the group with Elisabeth Murdoch through M&A and organic growth into an organisation with 27 creative labels in 12 countries and £700m revenues.

Prior to this she had a career in media organisations across Europe, as Chief Operating Officer at Talkback Thames, Director of Commercial Development and Strategy at FremantleMedia and as a Senior Strategy Executive at RTL Group. She began her career as a PhD Physicist working in the NHS before joining strategy consultants Mitchell Madison Group as an internet retail expert.

Mahon is a Senior Non-Executive Director of Ocado Plc, a Non-Exec Director of the Edinburgh International Television Festival charity and Chair of the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. She was a member of the Government’s most recent advisory group on the BBC Charter Review. She is also Appeal Chair of The Scar Free Foundation a national charity funding pioneering and transformative medical research into disfigurement.