The board

John Bason joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 1 April 2022 and became Chairman of the Board and Chair of the Nomination Committee at the conclusion of the 2024 Annual General Meeting.

John is a Chartered Accountant with a wealth of experience from a 40-year career in international business. He was Finance Director of Associated British Foods plc from May 1999 until April 2023. He was formerly a Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director at Compass Group plc, Chair of the UK’s leading food redistribution charity, FareShare and Honorary Treasurer of Voluntary Service Overseas.

He is an Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at SSE plc and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of Primark. 

Nigel Newton is the founder of Bloomsbury Publishing. He was born and raised in San Francisco. He read English at Selwyn College, Cambridge and after working at Macmillan Publishers, he joined Sidgwick & Jackson. He left Sidgwick in 1986 to start Bloomsbury Publishing with three other publishers. Bloomsbury floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994 and has grown organically and through acquisitions. Nigel was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to the publishing industry. He was President of the Publishers Association. He serves as President of Book Aid International, a Member of the Advisory Committee of Cambridge University Library, and as a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2020, he was awarded The LBF Lifetime Achievement Award 2020 and became an Honorary Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He has previously served as a member of the Booker Prize Advisory Committee, Chairman of the Charleston Trust, Chair of World Book Day, Board member of the US-UK Fulbright Commission, member of the Publishers Association Council, Trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Chairman of the British Library Trust.

Keith Underwood was appointed to the Bloomsbury Board in February 2026, when he joined Bloomsbury as Chief Financial and Operating Officer. Keith joined Bloomsbury from Guardian Media Group (GMG) where he was Chief Financial and Operating Officer, and was previously Interim CEO. He joined GMG in June 2020 as an Executive Member of the Board with responsibility for financial stewardship, operational performance and helping to shape the strategic direction of the group. Before GMG, Keith worked at Channel 4 as Chief Financial and Operating Officer and spent more than eight years on the Executive Committee. Prior to joining Channel 4, he was employed by Discovery Networks International, Sky and PwC. Keith is a Chartered Accountant. Keith is also a Board member of Digital Catapult, a digital technology innovation organisation which helps businesses grow by applying advanced digital technology. He has previously served as chairman of Freeview and a Board Director of Digital UK and YouView.

Jenny Ridout joined Bloomsbury in 2004. In addition to leading the Academic and Professional Division, which includes Bloomsbury Digital Resources, Jenny is the executive group sponsor for Artificial Intelligence and a member of the Publishers Association AI Taskforce.
Jenny assumed the role of Managing Director of the Academic and Professional Division in 2020 upon the retirement of her predecessor, and former Executive Director, Jonathan Glasspool. In her role, Jenny has overseen the integration of a number of strategic acquisitions for the Group, including most recently, the acquisition of the Rowman & Littlefield academic publishing business.
Jenny has many years of experience in Digital Resource publishing, being responsible for the creation and rapid growth of Drama Online as Project Director, for which she won the Futurebook Digital Achiever industry award. Jenny was previously the Editorial Director for the Methuen Drama and Arden Shakespeare lists.
Jenny started her career in publishing at Elsevier (RELX), where she was the global Publishing Director for the specialist trade and professional media imprint, Focal Press.
Jenny is also a Board Trustee for Yale University Press London and a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the publishing course at Oxford Brookes University.

Leslie-Ann Reed joined the Bloomsbury Board in July 2019. She is a Chartered Accountant with a wealth of Non-Executive and Audit Committee Chair experience and in March 2025, she was the winner in the FTSE AIM category at the Non-Executive Director Awards. Leslie-Ann is the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Frontier Developments plc. In addition, she is an Independent Non-Executive Director at the private equity backed companies Leopard Jersey Topco Limited and Nido Holdco UK GP Ltd, where she is also Chair of the Audit Committee. Leslie-Ann was formerly a Non- Executive Director at the London-listed publisher Quarto Group Inc and Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board and Chair of the Audit Committee of the German-listed company ZEAL Networks SE. She was Chief Financial Officer of the B2B media group Metal Bulletin plc and the online auctioneer Go Industry plc. She has also held senior finance roles in various media and professional services companies, namely Universal Pictures, Polygram Music, EMI Music and Warner Communications Inc.

Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey of Hornsey is a former actor, professor of Cultural Studies, and Head of Culture at the Greater London Authority. She has written and broadcast extensively on a wide range of cultural issues, mainly on the subject of diversity and culture in the arts and creative industries sector. She has served on the Boards of several national cultural organisations, including the National Theatre and the Southbank Centre, as well as serving as a Commissioner for Historic England. Baroness Young has chaired the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Orange Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Ondaatje Prize for writing and the Man Booker Prize. Recognised for her work on equality and diversity in the heritage sector with the award of an OBE in 2001, Baroness Young was appointed an independent Crossbench member of the House of Lords in 2004. She is widely known for her contribution to creating legislation to eliminate modern slavery, founding the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, and Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights. An elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature, Baroness Young is Co-Chair of the Foundation for Future London, Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, a Non-Executive Director for Futerra Limited and a Trustee of The Conduit Foundation.

Dame Heather Rabbatts’ career spans law, government, sport, and media. She began her career as a lawyer, then became a government advisor and the youngest CEO of a local authority. She subsequently moved into media with executive roles at Channel 4, and then independent film and TV production.
Heather is the Interim Executive Chair of M&C Saatchi Group plc and Senior Independent Director at Associated British Foods plc. She chairs Soho Theatre and the talent management and TV/Film production company, 42 M&P Ltd, and is an independent film producer. She co-founded Times Up UK to promote safe working environments across Film, TV and Theatre. She has been on the boards of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, the Royal Opera House and the BBC, and was the first woman and person of colour on the Board of the FA in 150 years.

Chris Blatchford is a senior technology and digital executive with extensive experience leading technology, product, engineering, data and operational transformation across large international retail and consumer businesses. He currently holds a senior leadership role at Kingfisher plc, where he is responsible for major areas of the Group technology and digital portfolio spanning eCommerce, marketplaces, AI, cybersecurity, cloud platforms, store technology and enterprise systems.

Chris has led large-scale transformation and modernisation programmes across multiple European markets, including the evolution of digital commerce platforms, omnichannel retail capabilities, enterprise data platforms, AI initiatives and operational resilience programmes. He has also played a key role in the development of technology operating models, engineering capability growth and international delivery organisations.

Prior to his current role, Chris held senior technology and transformation leadership positions across a range of industries, working in complex, fast-paced environments with significant operational scale. His experience spans retail, academic publishing, digital commerce, supply chain, infrastructure, enterprise technology and customer platforms, with a focus on balancing strategic transformation with practical delivery and operational performance.

Maya Abu-Deeb is a qualified solicitor and joined Bloomsbury in 2008 as General Counsel. Maya is responsible for all legal advice to the Company, and manages the legal and contracts teams at Bloomsbury. She is also Company Secretary and Group Data Protection Officer, assuming these roles in 2019. Prior to joining Bloomsbury, Maya was in private practice for ten years, specialising in commercial, media and intellectual property law, and advising in respect of both contentious and non- contentious matters.

Maya read Oriental Studies at St John's College, Oxford, before completing the Common Professional Exam and Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in London.