Barbara Slater will leave later this year after 14 years running the BBC’s sports coverage. Director General Tim Davie called her “a pioneer, innovator and outstanding leader.”Amongst a number of achievements, Slater has frequently been credited with helping catapult the profile of women’s sport, especially football, culminating in gangbuster ratings for the recent Euros and World Cup finals, both of which England competed in.She has also seen the likes of FA Cup football and cricket brought back to the BBC, while overseeing thousands of hours of sports content per year across TV and radio.She joined the BBC in 1983 as a trainee assistant producer in the Natural History Unit before working her way up the ladder, and was awarded an OBE for services to sports broadcasting in 2014.“It was this week 40 years ago that I first walked through the doors at Broadcasting House,” said Slater.“A career in BBC Sport has been an absolute passion, never just a job. Since joining in 1983 I’ve been privileged to have had such amazing opportunities and the delight of working with such talented colleagues and partners.”Davie added that she leaves the BBC with a “tremendous legacy,” while content boss Charlotte Moore called her “a much-respected leader, a real trailblazer for women in the industry who can proudly say she has inspired the next generation.”
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