Roles and responsibilities
- As Chair of the Board, Samir is responsible for upholding and protecting the independence of the BBC.
- He is responsible for ensuring that the BBC fulfils its mission to inform, educate and entertain and promotes its public purposes.
- The Chair ensures that the Board's decision-making is in the public interest, informed by the best interests of the audience and with appropriate regard to the impact of decisions on the wider media market in the UK.
- The Board, under the Chair, also must ensure that the BBC maintains the highest standards of corporate governance.
Term of appointment: 4 March 2024 to 3 March 2028
Biography
Samir Shah has worked in broadcasting for over forty years. Prior to taking up the role as Chair of the BBC, he was the CEO of Juniper, an independent television and radio production company, since 1998. Before Juniper, Samir was head of current affairs and political programmes at the BBC. In 2022, the RTS (Royal Television Society) awarded him its top honour: Outstanding Contribution (AKA Lifetime Achievement award) to journalism. Samir was a Non-Executive Director of the BBC (2007-2010), Chair of the Museum of the Home (2014-2022), and was a trustee then Deputy Chair of the V&A (2004-2014). He was Chair of the Runnymede Trust (1999-2009) and One World Media (2020-2024) and was a Member of the Arts and Media Honours Committee (2022-2024).
Samir was appointed a CBE for services to Television and Heritage in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He was previously made an OBE in the 2000 New Year’s Honours List. Samir was elected a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 2002. He was appointed Visiting Professor of Creative Media at Oxford University in 2019 and the University of Nottingham appointed him to a Special Professorship in the Department of Post Conflict Studies.
Samir was born in India and came to England in 1960.
Fees
The fees for non-executive directors of the BBC Board are set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Chairman receives fees of £160,000 per annum. The time commitment for the Chair will be at least 3 days per week.
Expenses and central bookings
Expenses are costs incurred by BBC staff on behalf of the BBC and claimed through the BBC's expenses system.
Central bookings are costs incurred on behalf of the BBC and booked through the BBC's central bookings system. Both expenses and central bookings are published every three months.
Downloads
Gifts and Hospitality Register
Gifts and hospitality may only be accepted in line with BBC policy. Information about gifts and hospitality is published every three months.
Downloads
Declaration of personal interests
Staff must make a declaration of their personal and business interests, including any memberships or directorships of public or industry bodies, and any shareholdings, as well as any interests that their immediate families may also have.
A summary is published where there is something to declare and where there is nothing to declare. Occasionally an individual will have something to declare but due to the personal nature of the declaration we do not publish details as to do so would breach the General Data Protection Regulation.
This information is published annually, although if any amendments are made during the year an updated summary will be published if necessary as soon as it is available.