Diane (pictured) says of the role: “Is it too much of a cliché to say how excited I am to have the opportunity to use my year as the BSME chair to enhance and develop our remit to provide editors with the opportunities to meet, exchange ideas and broaden their professional knowledge? Too bad. Because I am!
“We've got lots of great plans for inspiring and exciting events, as well as the launch of a new set of awards aimed at the all-too-often overlooked members of magazine and website teams. There's a lot to do and I'm thoroughly looking forward to cracking on with it all.”
Diane is the first mass market women’s weekly magazine editor to hold the role of chairman since 1996. The BSME represents the needs of consumer, business and contract publishing magazine editors and acts a voice of the industry. Previous Chairmen have included Dylan Jones, Jane Bruton, Fiona McIntosh and Lisa Smosarski.
Diane started her career in television and radio, moving from production to presenting – she fronted programmes on BBC One, BBC TWO, Sky News and Channel 4 and hosted her own two hour daily radio show.
She started working in magazines at the BBC as a regular contributor to Family Life and later took up the role as features editor on Having a Baby magazine. A short period working on Good Housekeeping preceded her first editor’s role on the high profile Marks & Spencer magazine. After five years as editor on M&S, Diane was asked to take on the launch of a new magazine aimed at the over 50 market – Heyday until it moved to a rival publisher.
After a brief stint at the Guardian, Diane joined IPC as editor of Woman’s Weekly. She oversaw a major redesign of the magazine, which continues to be the best selling magazine in its market, says IPC.
