At USI, a lecture with Tony Hall

This past November, Università della Svizzera italiana had the pleasure of welcoming Tony Hall, who gave a lecture on media economics and politics to the students of the Master's programme in Media Management and Digital Fashion Communication.

Tony Hall, former President of the EBU and former Director General of the BBC, spoke about the challenges of leadership and management in the digital age. 

Biography

Tony Hall, (born 3 March 1951 in Birkenhead, Wirral, England), was a British theatre and television administrator who served as Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Opera House (2001 - 2013) and later as Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2013 - 2020). After graduating in 1970 from Keble College, Oxford, Hall joined the BBC in 1973 as an apprentice in the newsroom in Belfast, Northern Ireland. At the age of 36, Hall became BBC television news and current affairs editor. In 1990, he was appointed head of BBC television news and current affairs; in the following years he added radio news to his responsibilities. During this time, the BBC greatly expanded its service, with a 24-hour television news channel, a radio station dedicated to news and sport, and an online service that became one of the most viewed news websites in the world. 

In 2001 Hall left the BBC to become chief executive of the Royal Opera House in London. In 2013, Hall returned to the BBC as director general. At the time, the broadcasting system had been engulfed by several scandals, and once he took up his new post, Hall rationalised the management of the BBC and began the process of regaining not only public trust, but also the morale of his own staff. In 2020, Hall resigned as its Director General to become chair of the board of the National Gallery.

Hall was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005; in 2010 he was created a life peer as Baron Hall of Birkenhead, and he sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher (not aligned to any political party).