EBU elects new executive board

Public broadcaster organisation the EBU has elected a new executive board made up of representatives of public service media from throughout Europe.

Nine board members will join the EBU’s new president Delphine Ernotte Cunci of France Télévisions and vice-president Petr Dvořák of Czech TV to help lead the EBU for the next two years.

The board, which was elected by EBU members at the organisation’s 85th general assemblym  is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the EBU’s strategy and policies.

Thomas Bellut, Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė and Fran Unsworth have been elected to the board for the first time, while Alexander Wrabetz re-joins after a four-year absence.

Bellut has been director-general of ZDF since 2012 while Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė was named as director-general of Lithuanian National Radio and Television in 2018.

Unsworth runs the BBC’s news and current affairs programming and is a member of the BBC Board.

Wrabetz has served as director general of Austria’s ORF since 2007 and was previously an EBU board member from 2011-2016.

Cilla Benkö, director-general of Swedish Radio, has been appointed for her fifth term as an while Marcello Foa, president of Italy’s Rai, Giacomo Ghisani, acting director-general of the Vatican State’s VR, Sebastian Sergei Parker, deputy director-general of Channel One Russia and Gonçalo Reis, president and CEO of RTP in Portugal will be serving for a second term.

Incoming EBU president Ernotte Cunci, who is replacing the BBC’s Tony Hall, said: “I’m glad we could gather a great cast of skills and experience and also keep the balance of the geographical, economical and cultural diversity of the EBU Members in the composition of the new Executive Board. For the first time, I’m also proud to include three women on the board.”