Helen Boaden is a member of the Reuters Institute's Advisory Board.

She started her journalistic career in local radio in Leeds and went onto become the first female Director of BBC News. For eight years she led 8000 News staff at home and abroad and the team which created the largest multi media newsroom in the democratic world.

She is an award winning reporter who became Editor of File on 4 and then Head of BBC Current Affairs before running Radio 4 when it won Sony Station of the Year twice.

Her final BBC role was Director of BBC Radio with a seat on the Executive Board. She was responsible for 10 network radio stations, three orchestras, two choirs and the Proms.

She left the BBC in 2017 and took up a Fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School in Harvard. She now sits on the Center’s Advisory Board. She gave evidence to the recent Parliamentary investigation into so-called fake news and Disinformation.

In 2018 she produced The Boaden Review for the Irish public service broadcaster, RTE, on the sustainability of its orchestras.

She chaired the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for ten years and now chairs York Theatre Royal. She was on the board of the UK Statistics Authority during the Covid pandemic and for the 2021 Census. She sat on the Council of the Royal Academy of Arts for six years and chaired the Audio Content Fund set up by the DCMS.

Helen currently chairs the board of Windsor Leadership and was appointed by the National Statistician to chair his Advisory Committee on data ethics.