Alexandra Rose Mahon (born 29 October 1973) is a British businesswoman. She has been the chief executive of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

since October 2017, succeeding David Abraham as the first female

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the channel. Mahon is due to leave her role in summer 2025.

Early life and education

Alexandra Rose Mahon was born on 29 October 1973 in London. Aged five, she moved to Edinburgh, and grew up there with her mother and stepfather. She was educated at

James Gillespie's High School James Gillespie's High School (Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-sgoil Sheumais Ghilleasbuig) is a state-funded secondary school in Marchmont, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a comprehensive high school, educating pupils between the ages of 11 and 18, situated at ...

and St Margaret's School, Edinburgh. She has a PhD in medical physics from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, awarded in 1998. She spent a year working at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

Career

Mahon began her career as a technology consultant with Mitchell Madison Group. In 2002, she joined

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

as director of commercial development. In 2005, when working for

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames is a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (company), FremantleMedia (now Fremantle), part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann. It was formed by the merger of Talkback (production com ...

, ''

Management Today Haymarket Media Group is a private media company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and pr ...

'' included Mahon in their top 35 women under 35 in the business world. Mahon was CEO of the production company Shine Group, owned by

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

, and then CEO of the visual effects software company

Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

. She has worked with the UK's

Department of Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. I ...

(DCMS), as a member of their advisory panel on the BBC's future direction. Mahon's appointment as chief executive of Channel 4 was announced in June 2017 and became effective the following October. in her role, Mahon earns 'almost £1 million' annually. Mahon announced that she would be stepping down as chief executive of Channel 4 on the 28 April 2025, and was subsequently named as the new chief executive of Superstruct Entertainment.

Personal life

Mahon is married to Richard Barker, who works in renewable energy; the couple have four children. The family live in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Alex 1973 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London People educated at St Margaret's School, Edinburgh Scottish people of Irish descent British television executives Channel 4 people