Profile
Now 46, Ashley was previously a vice-president at Microsoft, in charge of its UK consumer and online business, including the MSN website. Prior to that he was director of new media and technology at the BBC where he launched the iPlayer.
He lives in central London and will divide his working week between Edinburgh and London and visiting Johnston Press centres. He is divorced and has shared custody of his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Amelie.
He holds two non-executive roles – on the boards of William Hill and the British Film Institute.
He enjoys walking with friends and has a cottage in the Chiltern Hills – in the village where the Vicar of Dibley was filmed. He’s also into photography and likes to get behind the wheel at track days when he gets the chance. “I’m a bit of a petrolhead.”
His favourite gadget is his new Sonos music system at home which streams music from either the internet or music stored on a server. An app allows him to remotely select what music he wants to play in which room of the house. “I’m well impressed with it. It’s simple and doesn’t cost the earth. If you have wifi the kit starts at a couple of hundred pounds.”
He’s inspired by great leaders including Greg Dyke, his former boss at the BBC, as well as great innovators such as Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Steve Jobs.
Read more about this topic: Ashley Highfield
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