John Howkins

Main activities

John Howkins is executive chairman of Tornado Productions Ltd , which provides webcasting to corporate and media clients. He is also a director of ITR Ltd, Equator Group plc, Television Investments Ltd and World Learning Network Ltd.

He was associated with Time Warner Entertainment LP from1981-1996 and held several positions with responsibilities for strategy and business development throughout Europe, setting up numerous companies to make and distribute programming, including TV stations and channels.

Through ITR he has advised ABC, Andersen Consulting, BBC, Coopers & Lybrand, European Commission, IBM, ICL, ITV, KPMG, Sky TV, etc. He has worked for the Governments of Australia, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Singapore, UK, USA and 15 other countries. He has worked widely in Eastern Europe.

He was Executive Director of the International Institute of Communications, with members in over 100 countries, from 1985 to 1990. He was the Conference Coordinator of the European Audiovisual Conference, co-hosted by the European Commission and the UK Government, in 1998.

Other activities

He is Chairman of the Advisory Board to CREATEC and Deputy Chairman of the British Screen Advisory Council, the UK's leading industry organisation for the moving image. He is a former Chairman of the London International Film School (and remains a Governor) and Vice Chairman of the Association of Independent Producers.

He is the author of several books, including 'Understanding Television', 'Communications in China' and 'New Technologies, New Policies'. His most recent book is 'Four Global Scenarios on Information and Communication' (1997). His book, 'The Creative Economy', will be published in June 2001.

As a journalist he was Editor of 'InterMedia', Editor of the 'National Electronics Review', Editor of 'Vision'; TV Editor of 'Time Out', Editorial Adviser to '1992 Now', published by IBM, and a regular contributor to 'The Sunday Times', 'The Economist', 'Harpers & Queen' and other publications.

He is the UK representative of the Transatlantic Dialogue on Broadcasting and the Information Society and has advised Poland, Russia and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe on media legislation.