Sophie Henrietta Turner Laing, (born 7 September 1960) is a British businesswoman and media executive. She was

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

of global content creator, producer and distributor

Endemol Shine Group Endemol Shine Group B.V. (stylized in all spaceless) was a Dutch production and distribution company of scripted and non-scripted content, responsible for programmes such as '' Big Brother'', '' Deal or No Deal'', '' The Money Drop'', '' Fear F ...

from December 2014 until July 2020. Prior to taking up that role, she held a number of senior positions at Sky in the UK, including their director of film and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of content. She previously worked for the

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Early life

'TURNER LAING, Sophie Henrietta, (Mrs C. Comninos)', ''

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 1 Oct 2017
/ref> She was educated at Oakdene School, a boarding school in Buckinghamshire. She didn't attend a university.

Career

After finishing school, Turner Laing completed a secretarial course and worked as an events secretary for the

Variety Club of Great Britain Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

. She then spent two years working in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

and radio in Australia. She returned to the United Kingdom in 1982. She began her television career as a secretary at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

in the distribution side of Henson International Television, a division of

The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

. She was promoted through a number of positions and rose to become the sales director. During this time she worked on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

''. In 1989, she and Peter Orton established

HiT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sop ...

, after purchasing the Henson International Television division from The Jim Henson Company. In 1995, she joined Flextech Television working as a buyer of content. In 1998, she moved to the British Broadcasting Corporation (

...
), where she worked as controller of programme acquisitions for five years. She was involved in the buying of programmes such as '' Band of Brothers'' and the first season of '' 24'' for the company. From December 2000 to March 2001, she held the additional role of acting director of marketing and communications. She ended her time at the BBC as acting director of television. In 2003, she left the BBC for BSkyB. In March of that year she was appointed director of movies. In April 2004, she became deputy managing director of Sky Networks, therefore deputy head of all Sky channels except

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. In March 2007, she joined the

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

of the company as managing director of content. In that role, she is responsible for the companies portfolio of entertainment and news channels. She launched a new channel,

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HB ...

, in 2011. In May 2014, she left BSkyB.

Honours

Turner Laing has been honoured with a Royal Television Society (RTS) Fellowship for her "outstanding contribution" to British television, as well as the inaugural MIPTV Médaille d'Honneur for her contribution to television globally. In January 2016 she received the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award in recognition of "extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming." In the

2018 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to the media".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner Laing, Sophie British business executives Living people 1960 births Secretaries BBC people Women business executives Officers of the Order of the British Empire British media executives HIT Entertainment