Andy Bird CBE (born 3 January 1964) is a British executive. He was chairman of Walt Disney International until 2018. Bird was the CEO of Pearson plc from October 2020 until his retirement on 8 January 2024.

Early life

Bird was born and raised in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and was educated at King's School, Macclesfield. In 1985, Bird gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

Career

Bird first started his career in broadcasting as one of Timmy Mallett's helpers on

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

's Piccadilly Radio. He produced the breakfast show. He later moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

working for

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

's Virgin Broadcasting, working on their music television channel

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces Musical note, musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder (geometry), cylinder or disc to pluck ...

and satellite radio station 'Radio Radio'. Next was

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting plc (BSB) was a television company, based in London, that provided satellite television, direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. It started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company ...

's The Power Station channel. In 1990, Bird and Chris Evans formed company Big and Good that made programmes for TVam. Bird joined

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

in 1994 as senior vice president and general manager of Turner Entertainment Networks Limited. In 2000, he became president of TBS International and was responsible for all TBS broadcasting outside of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Disney

In 2004, Bird joined

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and has since overseen the acquisition of Hungama TV in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and investment in India's UTV. He also localizes content and has reorganized Disney's international structure and leadership ranks. Bird was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to UK media and entertainment.

Pearson

Bird was selected as CEO of Pearson plc to replace the retiring John Fallon and had been with the company since October 2020. He retired in January 2024.

Personal life

Bird is married and has two sons.

References

Living people Disney executives Alumni of Newcastle University People from Warrington Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1964 births {{disney-stub