Maria Kyriacou, the president of ViacomCBS Networks UK and Australia, has been named as the new chair of Britain’s Creative Diversity Network.
Kyriacou succeeds Jill Offman, who left ViacomCBS earlier this year, and will lead the organization until the end of 2020, helping it promote diversity and inclusion in the UK television industry.
Kyriacou said: “I look forward to championing the vital work that CDN is doing at a time when actionable diversity and inclusion initiatives has never been more important.
“As CDN’s chair, my aim is to put CDN and its diversity monitoring tool, Diamond, at the centre of discussions with broadcasters and producers, in order that we can collectively work towards improving representation in all spheres of our sector.”
The CDN published a Diamond report earlier this year that revealed that BAME writers and directors are still badly underrepresented in the industry, but broadcasters are doing a much better job on-screen. BAME representation among writers and directors stands at 9.1% and 8.6% respectively, which is below the British workforce average of 13%, according to the report.