CONGRATULATIONS to Caroline Thomson, the former BBC bigwig who after 13 years away returned to the corporation this month as a non-executive director.
Sitting alongside the director-general and chairman and such luminaries as Robbie Gibb on the BBC board, Thomson will spend her four-year term helping make sure the Beeb’s “mission and public purposes” are on track – with specific duties of “ensuring that the BBC maintains the highest standards of corporate governance, particularly with respect to financial reporting, internal control and risk management”.
Quite the job for Thomson, who as chief operating officer oversaw the expansion of the BBC’s property empire in the late 2000s, and thus had to defend the corporation after the redevelopment of Broadcasting House in central London came in four years late and £107m over budget.