Anthony Fry, Trustee

"Having spent my career in business, both in the City as an investment banker and in business as a non executive director and now Chairman of a range of companies, its a great privilege to bring my commercial experience to help the BBC deliver value for licence fee payers in today's rapidly changing broadcasting environment.

"How the BBC does business sets the benchmark for the rest of the media industry, in which I specialised for over a decade. Whether or not you agree with everything it does, the BBC should seek excellence in every way – with its harshest critics being those who work for it.

"After all, what other organisation would allow a member of staff to give the Chairman a grilling on prime time radio?"

About Anthony

Following a history degree at Oxford, Anthony joined Rothschilds and a career in the City, now splitting his time between banking and corporate boards.

He developed an understanding of public sector businesses through his involvement in many of the privatisation deals of the 1980s, and first got involved with media businesses through his role advising on the establishment of the National Lottery and then leading one of the franchise bids in 1994.

Anthony left his board position at Rothschilds in 1996 to become head of global media and European telecoms at BZW/CSFB, where he developed a deep understanding of the UK and global media industries. He then moved to Lehman Brothers as head of UK operations, leaving in 2007 to do an advanced management programme at Harvard Business School, before joining investment banking boutique Evercore Partners in 2008, where he was senior adviser until 2011. Anthony was appointed chairman of Espirito Santo Investment Bank UK in 2011.

Being profoundly interested in how businesses work, Anthony holds a number of non-executive directorships alongside his position as Trustee. He lives in London and Oxfordshire.