Thinkbox Founder Tess Alps to Retire

In the UK, television marketing body Thinkbox has announced that its founding CEO and current non-executive Chair Tess Alps has decided to retire at the end of the year.

Alps (pictured) founded and became Thinkbox's first CEO in 2006, aiming to help the main UK commercial broadcasters understand how audiences engage with TV advertising. The body's shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV, which together represent more than 90% of commercial TV advertising revenue through owned and partner TV channels.

Prior to the launch, Alps spent thirteen years at communications agency the PHD Group in the UK, having joined as Broadcast Director and latterly served as Group Chairman. She began her career in TV sales, latterly as an ITV Sales Director, prior to her move to PHD. She is past President of WACL (Women in Advertising and Communications London), a Fellow of the Marketing Society, an Emeritus member of the MGGB (Marketing Group of Great Britain), and a council member of the Advertising Standards Authority.

Alps is also a BAFTA member and a Fellow of the Royal Television Society. In 2007, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by Women in Film and TV, and in 2013 she was voted Media Leader of the Decade by the readers of Haymarket's brand titles. She became a Council Member of the Advertising Standards Authority in 2017, and a year later she received the Mackintosh Medal from the Advertising Association for outstanding service to the ad industry.

Commenting on the news of Alps' retirement, Thinbox CEO Lindsey Clay said: 'We've been finding new ways to persuade Tess to stay on for years now, largely based on emotional blackmail, but this day had to come eventually. No one has done more to champion TV, and advertising more widely. And no one has done so with more passion, integrity, conscience, wit, and success. I know I speak on behalf of everyone who has worked at Thinkbox, all our shareholders and pretty much the whole industry and anyone who has ever met her, when I wish her the best in her well-earned and hard-won retirement'.

Web site: www.thinkbox.tv .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.