Dame Patricia Hodgson, Trustee

"The BBC is one of the most important institutions in this country. Its first class news service helps underpin our democratic freedoms, while the best of its programmes reflect and inform the national imagination, and support our national culture.

"However, with increasing pressure on its finances, the BBC must look to its priorities and focus on what is crucial to delivering its purposes and what is not.

"This is an important area for the Trust, and one I am particularly interested in, having set up the strategic policy side of the BBC in the 1980s."

About Patricia

The first of her family to go to university, access to education has always been immensely important to Patricia.

After graduating from Cambridge, she joined the BBC as part of the team that founded the Open University. During a period of reform during the 1980s, she became Director of Policy and Planning, setting up the BBC’s first strategic policy unit, which has since become central to its operations. Part of her role was to ensure the BBC adapted to market changes, particularly necessary with the development of satellite television and the internet.

Leaving the BBC, Patricia became Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission.

Patricia is Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2004.