Alex Mahon, Channel 4's first female CEO, has announced her decision to step down this summer after almost eight years heading up the broadcaster.
The news leaves the two big jobs at the top of the organisation vacant, with Dawn Airey serving as interim C4 chair after Ian Cheshire's three-year term concluded earlier this month.
During her time in charge, Mahon has overseen huge programming successes such as It's A Sin, Help, The Piano and Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, as well as Film4 productions including A Zone of Interest, The Banshees of Inisherin and All of Us Strangers.
In a statement, she said: "Working at Channel 4 has been a lifetime privilege because Channel 4 is the most extraordinary organisation. What we get to do here is much more than television because we reflect our country with humour, creativity, grit, and care.
"We try our best to challenge convention and to change conversations. And we do it with a kind of irreverent brilliance that simply doesn't exist anywhere else.
"I feel lucky beyond belief to have had the chance to lead Channel 4 for nearly eight years – through calm seas (very few) and stormy waters (more than our fair share). From navigating the threat of privatisation (twice), to shifting out of London, to digital transformation, lockdowns, political upheaval, advertising chaos – there has never been a dull moment."
Airey said of Mahon: "Alex is a great figure in British television. She has been one of the most impactful CEOs since Jeremy Isaacs' founding of Channel 4 more than 42 years ago.
"She is business minded and has also been transformational both culturally and creatively, proving time and again her extraordinary ability to inspire and drive positive and meaningful change. Under her leadership, Channel 4 has moved with the times and driven the times.
"Her commitment to Channel 4's public service mission has been unwavering. She has backed entertaining, shocking, interesting telly, never playing it safe and her grit and resilience more than met the rough-tough challenges of recent times.
"She leaves a strengthened and well-run Channel 4 that will continue to flourish, with its Fast Forward strategy reengineering the organisation for the future."
Chief operating officer Jonathan Allan will serve as interim CEO while the C4 board search for a permanent replacement.
Neil Wilkes
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