Maggie Carver


Margaret Adela Miriam Carver DL is an English businesswoman. She is currently Chair of The and was recently Interim and Deputy Chairman of Ofcom, and Chair of its Content Board. She was the first woman Chairman of national and international news producer ITN, leading horseracing organisation, the, and the British Board of Film Classification. She has more than thirty years of experience as a non-executive director on the boards of twenty organisations, chairing seven, and chairing or participating in numerous audit and risk, remuneration and nominations committees. These organisations are mainly commercial but span publicly quoted companies, not for profit and government owned.

Career

After leaving St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, on the advice of her mentor, Lord Moser, Carver began a career in investment banking working for SG Warburg, firstly in the Banking Division, then as an analyst at SG Warburg Securities in Tokyo, and subsequently in Corporate Finance. After leaving SG Warburg, she worked for Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Chief Executive of MAI plc in corporate and strategic affairs, during which time she helped establish and was on the executive board of Meridian Broadcasting, and joined the boards of, and Paris Bourse listed . She then worked as CEO of Global Television Services, a television production and outside broadcasting company with a wide range of mainly sports clients, including Sky football and Channel 4 Racing. Between 2006 and 2017 she was CEO and joint owner of Carver Care and Mobility, an entrepreneurial online and retail mobility and disability specialist. Alongside her executive roles she developed a non-executive portfolio, serving on the boards of Sporting Index (Holdings) plc,, Channel Five, Limited,, British Waterways, the Eden Project, Services Sound and Vision Corporation, the Horserace Betting Levy Board, and the British Horseracing Authority. She has served as Chairman of the British Board of Film Classification, outside broadcaster and media tech operator, ITN, the, digital multiplex operator . and the . Most recently, during her long period as Interim Chair of Ofcom she led the preparations for online safety regulation, working closely with, Government and stakeholders.
Carver was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to sport and the media sector, a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire in September 2022, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester in October 2024 for her interfaith work.

Early life

Carver was born in Sutton-on-Hull, Yorkshire and brought up in Beverley, where she attended Beverley High School. Her father is Dr Ivan Hall, an architectural historian. Her mother, Elisabeth Hall, came from a distinguished Hamburg family and emigrated to the UK in 1938. She attended St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where she received a MA in Biochemistry. Her principal interests at school and university were music and sport. At school she gained a county scholarship to study the flute with David Butt, principal flute at the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 she studied the flute at the Paris Conservatoire, and subsequently gained an ARCM from the Royal College of Music in that instrument. She set up a professional wind quintet “Heirs and Graces”. She was a keen sportswoman, representing her school, county and Oxford University. While at school she trained with Olympic long-jumper, Sue Hearnshaw at the Hull Spartan Athletics Club.

Other appointments

Carver is a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Winchester. She has served on the Advisory Council of the, and governor of the Colville Nursery School in North Kensington. She is an honorary member of Vincent's Club, Oxford.

Family

Married to William Carver, whom she met at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, she has two children.