The incoming boss of MediaCity has vowed the Salford hub has a “very bright future” of media and innovation ahead as she prepares to return to the centre she helped to make a success.
Alice was chief operating officer of BBC North when she led the corporation’s landmark relocation to MediaCity in 2011, bringing 1,500 employees from London to Salford alongside hundreds of existing Manchester workers.
She will become CEO of both MediaCity and the Dock10 television studios complex, both owned by Landsec, in September. Mark Senior, who has led Dock10 since 2012, will move to an ongoing advisory role from September.
Following her BBC North role, Alice later became the BBC’s director of children’s & education, overseeing CBeebies and CBBC In 2020 she joined Universal Music as the first CEO of its global film and TV company Mercury Studios. Its features have included this year’s documentary One to One: John &Yoko, focusing on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in New York in the early 1970s and the former Beatle’s only full-length solo concerts.
Alice said: “I’m delighted to be joining Landsec and returning to lead a community with a proven track record of creative ambition but with so much potential ahead of it too. Landsec’s commitment to that potential is compelling and I’m excited to pick up the reins and lead MediaCity into its next chapter.
“We have a very bright future of media, innovation, growth and creativity ahead of us. I can’t wait to get started later this year.”
Landsec said: “Alice will be responsible for shaping and delivering a long-term vision that reinforces MediaCity as the home of future media - supporting new forms of content creation and digital innovation, and creating long-term value for Salford, Greater Manchester, and the wider region.
Mike Hood, chief operating officer at Landsec, said: “Alice’s appointment is a major milestone in the evolution of MediaCity. Her proven leadership in the media sector and ability to deliver large-scale transformation make her the ideal person to lead MediaCity and dock10 into the future together, under a bold new vision.
“As we expand MediaCity into a hub for media, creativity, and innovation, uniting property and production under one leadership will unlock even greater value for our partners, tenants, and communities. We’re excited about what’s ahead.”
Alice that she was massively proud of her work helping the BBC’s move to Salford, saying: “The thing that people tend to forget is that we combined those with 800 jobs already here in Manchester, because the BBC had been here for decades before that.
“So actually it was about settling 2,300 people into a new environment.
“Our objective wasn’t just to pick up people and their programmes and move them. Our objective was to transform the BBC and to set up the BBC for the internet age.”
