Dawn McCarthy-Simpson

Managing Director of Global Strategy

Pact

Dawn has had a varied media career which spans over 25 years.  She started with five years in the world of commercial radio with Emap Plc, before launching her career in TV.

As a pioneer of local TV, she was head hunted to launch Yorkshire’s first local terrestrial TV channel, where she remained for a further two years as Managing Director. Dawn then went on to be involved with the launch of a second channel, which was the UK's first short film channel which aired on the Sky platform. In her final year she successfully launched the channel into a further seven European countries.

Not satisfied with having experienced both in TV & Radio, Dawn also ventured into the literary world when she became a published author in June 2006.

Currently, Dawn is the Director for International Development for Pact. Pact is the UK trade association that represents and promotes the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, animation and interactive media companies. Dawn is responsible for:

• Developing and implementing policy to support  independent producers
• Developing the international exports strategy
• Engage and influence stakeholders
• Developing commercialised projects both in the UK and  global markets
• Brand integration and product placement development

Dawn is actively involved in various UK industry boards and panels:

• Board member – Skillset Cymru, sector skills council UK creative industry
• Board member – UK Trade & Investment strategy board
• Advisory Nations & Regions – Steering committee
• Chair – RTS west(Royal Television Society) judges

Speaking at: Team America: U.S. Commissioners Talk TV