Liz was formerly a journalist on the Tehran Journal, the Hampstead and Highgate Express, the Evening Standard and the Guardian. She moved to television at the start of Channel 4 where she became director of Programmes. She joined the BBC as Managing Director BBC Network Radio in 1993. She is Chair of the Scott Trust and of the National youth Orchestra and Deputy Chair of the British Museum. She was formerly Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council, a non-executive director of the Guardian Media Group and a non-executive member of the Department for Culture Media and Sport. She is a Patron of St Giles Trust, the National Churches Trust and the Pier Art Gallery, Stromness. She was made DBE in 2006 for services to heritage and broadcasting. She is an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, St Hugh’s College Oxford and Girton College Cambridge. She took up the role of Chair at Bristol Old Vic in May 2013.