Joe Godwin appointed as Director, BBC Academy
Joe Godwin will become the Director of the BBC Academy, the UK media sector's biggest skills trainer, when it moves to its new home in Birmingham in 2015, it has been announced today.
Published: 3 October 2014
Joe is an outstanding creative leader and I expect him to play a key role in our renewed activities in the region.
Currently Director of BBC Children's and the multi award-winning channels CBBC and CBeebies, Joe returns to his native Midlands to establish and lead the new centre at BBC Birmingham.
Reporting to Peter Salmon, Director England, Joe will take up his new role early in the new year.
Peter Salmon, Director England, says: “Joe is an outstanding creative leader and I expect him to play a key role in our renewed activities in the region. He has led BBC Children's brilliantly and has built a thriving home for this crucial UK service in the north of England. We will need some of that same leadership energy and commitment in Birmingham too. He will be sorely missed by all his colleagues in MediaCityUK and in the children's content sector but he isn't going far - just 100 miles south - to pick up a fresh challenge that builds on Joe's long-term passion for diversity, training and fresh talent.”
Joe Godwin says: “Since I got my first break in the BBC at Pebble Mill, the fortunes of BBC Birmingham and the BBC in the Midlands have been very close to my heart. The chance to combine several of my passions - encouraging new talent, helping the BBC skill up a diverse workforce, and the chance to lead the world class BBC Academy in its new home at the heart of the UK - all this was too exciting an opportunity to miss.”
Director of BBC Children's since 2009, Joe led the biggest move in the department’s history when they relocated to Salford and he has cemented the BBC's reputation as the world’s foremost producer and broadcaster of children's content, with both CBBC and CBeebies firmly at number one with their target audiences. Joe has also led the department's ground-breaking co-productions with Sesame Workshop, ZDF and Fremantle and steered both channels into the digital age with hugely successful apps and online products.
Under Joe’s leadership, CBeebies Land at Alton Towers has been launched and new YouTube services for BBC Children’s have been introduced. His ambition to make MediaCityUK in Salford a world centre of excellence for children’s media was realised this year with the launch of a major exhibition at The Lowry in Salford which celebrated 92 years of BBC Children’s programming.
Prior to this role, Joe was Head of News, Factual & Entertainment in BBC Children’s from 2008, and before that Head of Children’s Entertainment since 2005. He re-joined the BBC from Nickelodeon UK where he had held a number of posts including Head of Original Production and VP Interactive Director. He was at the BBC before this as Editor of Children’s Presentation after working his way through the ranks in BBC Children’s starting out as a trainee before moving on to become an assistant producer, studio director and producer on shows such as Blue Peter, Going Live and Record Breakers.
Joe is a member of the BAFTA Children's Committee, the Advisory Panel on Children's Viewing of the British Board of Film Classification and is a Trustee of the National Museums of Liverpool.
The BBC Academy has devolved training teams across its UK output but will move its headquarters to Birmingham next year. This week 40 Local Radio apprentices started at the centre, the BBC’s largest ever apprenticeship scheme and part of a huge influx of new trainee and apprenticeship talent that the BBC has just recruited across technology, journalism and production.
BBC Birmingham is home to over 100 hours of daytime drama including long running BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers, Doctors, the Asian Network and Midlands Today. The BBC recently announced more than 200 additional jobs for Birmingham - working across training, HR and Internal Comms. The BBC's joint venture with The Arts Council, The Space, is relocating to Birmingham and the BBC is setting up a digital guerrilla unit in Digbeth, part of a regeneration partnership with the city and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Notes to Editors
Joe replaces Anne Morrison who stepped down as Director of The Academy this week.
Rob Alcock is Acting Director BBC Academy until Joe starts full time in January.
The BBC will be advertising for Joe’s successor at BBC Children's in the next few weeks.
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