Mark Byford

Mark Byford (born 13 June 1958) was Deputy Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation and head of BBC Journalism from 2004-2011. He chaired the BBC Journalism Board and had overall responsibility for the world’s largest and most trusted news organisation, and all its radio, television and interactive journalism content across the UK and around the globe.

His responsibilities included BBC Sport, the Nations (BBC Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and Editorial Policy.He led the BBC wide coverage of the General Elections in 2005 and 2010; the Beijing Olympic Games coverage in 2008;and the BBC coverage of the Queen Mother's Funeral in 2002 and the Royal Wedding in 2011.

Byford established and chaired the BBC's Editorial Standards Board, which is responsible for promoting the BBC's standards in ethics and programme-making across the Corporation. He also established and chaired the Complaints Management Board, which oversees the handling of complaints across the BBC. In addition, he was the chair of the BBC Academy Board coordinating all its training and development. He was in overall charge of the BBC's planning for the London 2012 Olympic Games as Chair of the London 2012 Steering Group.

On 12 October 2010 it was announced that Byford had accepted voluntary redundancy. He stood down from the Executive Board in March 2011 and left the Corporation in June 2011.