About the Society

Joined the Society in July 2021. Dawn has had an extensive career in newspapers and as a magazine editor. She has also spent more than 10 years as an editorial content director for digital and print content agencies.
She began her career on the Exeter Leader, a Northcliffe weekly before going to work on the city’s evening title, the Express and Echo. She later worked as crime reporter and chief reporter at the Southampton Daily Echo.
On national titles, she worked in various reporting and executive roles including for the Sunday Express, Daily Express, Mirror, Sunday People and the New Day.

Kamal Ahmed is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The News Movement, a new media business focused on social media channels, new audiences and digital consumption.
Between 2018 and 2021, Kamal was Editorial Director of BBC News, working across news strategy, daily news and planning, commissioning, analysis, visual and audio journalism and new forms of digital content. He was a member of the Newsgroup Board and the Sounds board.
Between 2016 and 2018 Kamal was Economics Editor at BBC News, leading economics coverage for the corporation. He joined the BBC in April 2014 as Business Editor from the Telegraph Media Group where he was Executive Business Editor responsible for The Sunday Telegraph's business and economics coverage.
Between 2007 and 2009 Kamal was Group Director, Communications, at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and before that was Executive Editor, News, at The Observer. Between 2000 and 2004, Kamal was Political Editor of The Observer, covering Tony Blair’s premiership. He has also worked at The Guardian and Scotland on Sunday.
A Leeds University Graduate in Political Studies, Kamal’s first book, The Life and Times of a Very British Man, was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.

Chair of the Society of Editors, Ian is the Emeritus Editor of the Telegraph. He is the former Weekend Editor of the Telegraph and has previously worked for the Southern Evening Echo, South West News Service, PA Media, Daily Express and Daily Mail. He was launch editor of the Metro newspapers, editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, and deputy editor of the Evening Standard. He moved to the Telegraph group in 2007, and has been deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph, editor of the Sunday Telegraph, and Weekend Editor. He was appointed Emeritus Editor in June 2017. Ian is also on the board of IPSO, the independent regulator.

Claire joined the Society of Editors in 2012 and now oversees the campaign and advocacy work of the Society in line with its aims and objectives. Her role includes working to support the executive director and Society board in providing research to support and lead on the Society's varied initiatives, campaigns and parliamentary and legal work.

With nearly 10 years' experience helping to promote media freedom and the public's right to know, Claire also helps to plan and execute the Society’s varied events in line with its objectives: this includes the annual conference, national and regional media awards, the Satchwell Lecture and regional seminars.

A member of the team since 2006, Angela administrates the Society’s membership. She is also responsible for planning and bookings for the Society’s annual conference and awards. Other responsibilities include reconciling income and liaising with our accountants on financial matters.

Ian is Emeritus Editor of The Telegraph and former Weekend Editor. He has previously worked for the Southern Evening Echo, South West News Service, PA Media, Daily Express and Daily Mail. He was launch editor of the Metro newspapers, editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, and deputy editor of the Evening Standard. He moved to the Telegraph group in 2007, and has been deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph and editor of the Sunday Telegraph. Ian is also on the board of IPSO, the independent regulator.

Between 2016 and 2018 Kamal was Economics Editor at BBC News, leading economics coverage for the corporation. He joined the BBC in April 2014 as Business Editor from the Telegraph Media Group where he was Executive Business Editor responsible for The Sunday Telegraph's business and economics coverage.
Between 2007 and 2009 Kamal was Group Director, Communications, at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and before that was Executive Editor, News, at The Observer. Between 2000 and 2004, Kamal was Political Editor of The Observer, covering Tony Blair’s premiership. He has also worked at The Guardian and Scotland on Sunday.
A Leeds University Graduate in Political Studies, Kamal’s first book, The Life and Times of a Very British Man, was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.

Alex Bannister has been Group Managing Editor at the Daily Mail since 2006.
Before working for Mail Newspapers, Alex was Group Managing Editor at Express Newspapers where amongst other things he wrote occasional leaders and indulged his love of two-wheeled sport with a weekly cycling column. Alex is also a board member of the NLA, a publisher-owned rights licensing and publisher services business with a core aim of supporting journalism.

Martin Breen is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mediahius UK at their headquarters in Northern Ireland which publishes the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life. In this role he retains the Editorship of Sunday Life. Martin first joined the Belfast Telegraph as a graduate trainee in 1998, later becoming a reporter at Sunday Life. He was appointed Sunday Life Editor in May 2009 and Deputy Editor-in-Chief in September 2020.

Pete Clifton has been the Editor-in-Chief at PA Media since 2015. He began his career as a news reporter and cricket correspondent at the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, and has also worked at the Extel sports agency, the BBC and Microsoft’s MSN. His time at the BBC included being Editor of Ceefax, Editor of the BBC News website and launch Editor of the BBC Sport website. Away from work he enjoys his family, cycling, golf, playing the piano and good bars.

Oliver Duff is Editor-in-Chief of the i paper and inews.co.uk. Under his editorship, i has been awarded Newspaper of the Year and News Website of the Year. i was named the UK’s most trusted national news brand in research by industry auditor PAMCo. The UK’s youngest national editor, Oliver was appointed in 2013 and has since launched the popular iweekend print edition, website inews.co.uk and i’s app.
Oliver previously worked at The Independent for a decade, where he was Executive Editor, responsible for news and investigations. He got his first byline in the Leighton Buzzard Observer.

Ceri is Editorial Revenue Director for Reach Plc working on the regionals and nationals portfolio. She began her career on her local paper, the Glamorgan Gazette, and believes there is no better grounding for a journalist than reporting on the community in which you live.
Ceri's role is to find new ways to tell the stories of the people of the UK, both digitally and in print, in order to drive new revenue streams. Her remit also includes the company's customer value strategy.
She's worked across Reach Sport publishing, Affiliate publishing, Licensing, Archives and Content Marketing.
Previously Ceri was editor of WalesOnline and Editor-in-Chief of the South East and Cambridge region.

Donald is a Media and Management Consultant having previously been Editor of The Herald & Herald on Sunday and Editor-in-Chief, Newsquest Scotland.
Award-winning Editor, with more than 30 years' experience editing national, regional, Sunday, daily and weekly titles across the UK.
Previously Head of Publishing for DC Thomson's magazines including The People's Friend, My Weekly, Scots Mag, and Editor-in-Chief of DC Thomson Newspapers and Editor of The Sunday Post and Weekly News.
Former Editor of the Glasgow Evening Times, Aberdeen Evening Express and the North West Evening Mail in Cumbria; and deputy editor of the Cambridge Evening News.
He won his first editorship aged 24, launching the Edinburgh and Lothians Post before going on to become Group Editor at Thames Valley Free Newspapers.

Moira Sleight is Editor and Publisher of the “Methodist Recorder”, a weekly, national newspaper.
She is currently Master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, the City of London Livery Company for the communications and content industries.
She is a member of the Board of the London Press Club

Sarah Whitehead was promoted to Director of Newsgathering and Operations, Sky News in May 2023 with responsibility for UK and international journalism as well as Sky’s operations teams.
Sarah has been at Sky News for 13 years as Head of International News, Head of Home News and Deputy Head of Newsgathering before her most recent promotion. In her role as Deputy Head of Newsgathering she ran major events and special projects including Sky’s coverage of the death of the Queen, the Coronation and award-winning projects around climate in the run up to COP26 in Glasgow.
Before Sky News, Sarah was at the BBC. She has over 20 years’ experience working across TV, digital and audio and has worked in many genres including news, documentary and drama. She is on the board of the Society of Editors, is a member of the DSMA Notice Committee and is on the board of the British Journalism Review.

Doug Wills is Editor Emeritus of the London Evening Standard and The Independent. He began his career as a reporter with Thomson Regional Newspapers going on to senior editorial positions at several regional newspapers before working in London from 1986. Doug has held a number of executive positions with the Evening Standard and was appointed Managing Editor in 2005, and then Group Managing Editor in 2011. He was appointed Editor Emeritus of the Evening Standard and the Independent in December 2020.
He is also chairman of the London Press Club and a past president of the Society of Editors.

He is also chairman of the London Press Club and a past president of the Society of Editors.

Joy Yates is the Regional Editor for Newsquest Cumbria, with titles including the Carlisle-based News & Star, The Mail in South Cumbria, The Cumberland News, The Whitehaven News, the Times & Star, Westmorland Gazette as well as Northumberland’s Hexham Courant.
Joy was formerly a Regional Director and Editorial Director of JPIMedia’s North East portfolio.
She is on the Society of Editors board of directors and is a former chair of the society’s North East branch.
Joy is also a member of the Defence and Security Media Advisory committee.
An award-winning journalist, Joy is an industry adviser for Sunderland University on behalf of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Alison Phillips is the Editor-in-Chief of the Mirror across print and online. She got her start as a reporter at the Harlow Star, before joining the Sunday People magazine at what was then Trinity Mirror in 1998, and becoming features editor. She was later made deputy editor-in-chief across the group before being appointed Editor of the Daily Mirror and eventually Editor-in-Chief across the Mirror. She is the current chair of the Women in Journalism organisation. She lives in London and has three children.
In 2016 she was made Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Trinity Mirror papers and in 2018 was named as the Editor of the Daily Mirror, making her its first female editor since its very first editor in 1903. In February 2020 she was made Editor in Chief of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
Alison has also written a weekly column in the Mirror since 2012 and in 2018 was named “Columnist of the Year” at the National Press Awards.
She is chair of Reach plc’s Reaching Gender Equality group and Deputy Chair of Women In Journalism.
She has three children aged between nine and 15.
Alison is also a regular media commentator and has appeared on such programmes as Question Time, BBC Politics Live and ITV's This Morning

Ian Brunskill has been at The Times for thirty years, working across the paper. For almost half that time he has been on the duty editing rota, regularly editing the paper in the absence of the Editor. His current responsibilities as Associate Editor of both The Times and The Sunday Times include editorial standards and ethics, compliance, complaints handling and journalist training, as well as special editorial projects and book serialisations. For HarperCollins he has edited three editions of The Times Guide to the House of Commons, a collection of Times obituaries and several annual Best of The Times anthologies. He is the editor of The Times and Sunday Times Style Guide.

Will Hagerty is Associate Editor of The Sun. He started in journalism aged 19 as a reporter at the Evening Gazette, Teesside, before joining The Sun as a sub-editor in 1992. A former Night Editor, Chief Sub and Head of Publishing, Will has been on the duty editing rota since 2005. He oversees the print production teams and helped steer the newsroom’s transition to digital. Will has co-written and edited two Sun books and his campaigning work has twice won the NMA National Campaign of the Year award - in 2021 for Green Team (environmental awareness) and in 2022 for Give It Back (funding for disabled children).

Joseph Harker is the Guardian’s Senior Editor for Diversity and Development, in which role his aim is to embed diversity and inclusion across all editorial departments, at all levels, and for all disadvantaged groups.
Previous to this he was deputy editor and columnist on the Guardian’s Opinion section, and has written extensively on race, politics, and inclusion.
He edited the Guardian’s Black History Month wallchart series (2020), its Week in Africa series, its all-Black comment special issue, and the hardback book The Legacy of Apartheid.
For 20 years he has run the Guardian’s Positive Action Schemes, through which several minority journalists have started their careers.
He was a contributor to the 2019 book “Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space”; and he has presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary on Black people and classical music.
Before joining the Guardian, Joseph was editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper Black Briton, and previous to that assistant editor at The Voice.

Lucy Rock is Deputy Editor of The Observer. She took up her current role in 2018 after returning from three years in Seattle, where she wrote news and features for the Guardian and Observer. Before moving to the US, Lucy was News Editor of The Observer. She had previously been Deputy News Editor at The Express and a reporter at The Mirror. She began shifting for the nationals in the mid-90s after working at National News Agency and The Southwark News. Lucy trained on The Kent and Sussex Courier, where she completed a block-release NCTJ course in Sheffield. This followed a stint as a researcher in The Times newsroom.

Amanda is the Executive Editor at MailOnline, having risen through the ranks since joining as a freelance reporter in 2012.
She deputises for Editor and Publisher Danny Groom, with particular focus on news and political content and the health, science and Femail channels. Amanda also looks after recruitment and forward planning and has been instrumental in creating an integrated newsroom with the Mail's print titles. She works closely with SEO and Social teams to drive the Mail's phenomenal site traffic and devise and implement creative new ways of developing their reach. Before arriving at the Mail, Amanda worked at regional titles including the Oxford Mail and Times and freelanced for various nationals.

Jonathan Munro was born in Sheffield and educated at Nottingham University. He joined the BBC in January 2014.
He is now Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News, and the Corporation’s Director of Journalism. For most of 2022, he acted as Interim Director of News – at a time when the BBC was covering the Ukraine war, significant political turbulence and the death of HM The Queen.
During this interim appointment, he sat on the BBC Board and the Director General’s Executive Committee.
Jonathan is a Trustee of BBC Children in Need, and led a flagship project focusing on mental health support for children and young people across the UK.
He was previously at ITN for 26 years, joining as an editorial trainee and going on to work as a correspondent in the UK, Europe and around the world. Jonathan covered the Balkans war, both Gulf wars and the Beijing and London Olympics. He has worked extensively in the United States, Russia and Africa, and was Europe Correspondent for three years and Political News Editor for two.
Jonathan received an RTS Judges’ Award for negotiating the UK’s first televised Prime Ministerial debates in 2010. More recently, he was Executive Producer of the BBC’s main debate programmes during the 2016 Brexit Referendum and 2017 and 2019 UK elections.