BAFTA Appoints Hilary Rosen as Chair, Announces New Board

BAFTA has confirmed Hilary Rosen as its new chair, succeeding Sara Putt after a three-year term. Rosen, who spent the past year as deputy chair, takes over the academy's top volunteer role with a mandate to steer its awards, industry leadership and year-round talent development programs across film, games and television.

Rosen is not a newcomer to the organization. She has sat on BAFTA's television committee since 2021 and later chaired it, helping shape the Television and Craft Awards and oversee their juries. Her day job is director of commissioning at UKTV, where she leads the broadcaster's slate of original scripted and unscripted content.

She will not work alone. Ade Rawcliffe and Andrew Miller join her as deputy chairs, each serving a two-year term.

Rosen set out her position in her first remarks as chair: "I have long been passionate about everything BAFTA does to promote the screen arts and champion talent across the screen industries, so it is a great privilege to take on the role of BAFTA chair."

She added: "I am delighted to be able to do this alongside our newly appointed committee chairs, Charu, Caroline and Nahrein and the rest of the BAFTA board of trustees. All are outstanding industry leaders and with the collective passion and insight we share I'm confident that this board of trustees will continue to build on the important and impactful work that has gone before."

Who joined the board?

An election has filled three committee chair roles and added one new trustee:

• Charu Desdot chairs the games committee, taking over from Tara Saunders. A studio director with more than 25 years in the industry, she has worked with Sony and Xbox and was a BAFTA Breakthrough recipient in 2014.
• Caroline Levy chairs the television committee. The scripted producer has worked across the BBC, Paramount and several independent production companies, and acted as creative lead for International Horizons Scripted, a training program encouraging international growth for independent producers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Nahrein Kemp chairs the LIT committee. As ITV's DEI and talent lead, she delivers the broadcaster's DEI strategy, its £80 million Diversity Commissioning Fund and its £1 million Diversity Development Fund. She contributed to the BAFTA Review 2020 and sits on the Mayor of London's Skills for Londoners Business Board.
• Shrina Kemp — no; Shrina Shah, chair of the governance and appointments committee, joins the BAFTA board of trustees.

What does this change for BAFTA?

In the near term, little. The new chairs' portfolios — games, television, learning and talent — map directly onto BAFTA's existing structure, and every appointee already has BAFTA committee or jury experience. The shift is one of leadership style and priorities, not structure.

BAFTA credited Levy with a "strong record of accomplishment in bringing people together to address industry challenges," a description that hints at what the organization wants from this board: continuity of purpose with fresh coordination.

What remains unsaid is the length of Rosen's own term and any concrete targets for it. Her immediate challenge is the same one Putt faced — keeping BAFTA's awards and development programs relevant to a screen industry under budget pressure on all sides.