University News Last updated 01 February 2010
Sarah Thane, CBE, Commissioner of the National Lottery Commission and
an alumnus of the University will receive an honorary doctoral degree
from Birmingham City University on Monday 1 February.
The award will be conferred in recognition of Sarah's outstanding achievements in the field of broadcasting.
Sarah was appointed a Commissioner of the National Lottery Commission in 2005. She has a long and distinguished career in the field of broadcasting regulation and has worked as an independent consultant on broadcasting regulation, advising, among others, the BBC Governors and the BBC Trust on regulatory and compliance matters.
Sarah is currently carrying out an exploratory review of child performance regulations for Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
After gaining a diploma in Communication Studies at Birmingham City University, then the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, Sarah launched her broadcasting career in the city in 1974 in a role that saw her franchising and regulating a number of the early commercial radio stations. She spent the next 16 years fulfilling various roles at the Independent Broadcasting Authority, including Controller of Public Affairs.
In 1990, Sarah became an Executive Director of the Independent Television Commission and in 1996 took the lead role in the programme regulation of approximately 400 ITC-licensed television services. In 2004 she was appointed to the role of Adviser, Content and Standards at the Office of Communications, Ofcom.
She was a non-executive director of Films of Record, an independent film production company, is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society - and its Chairman from 2000 to 2002, and is a Governor of Teachers' TV and a Justice of the Peace in West Suffolk.
Her award is due to be conferred at 10.45am on Monday 1 February 2010 at the Awards Congregation ceremony in Symphony Hall which will celebrate the work and achievements of students graduating from the Faculty of Performance, Media and English and Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.