Keynote SpeakersKamal Ahmed is the Editor-in-Chief of The News Movement.
During three decades of journalism, Kamal has covered economics, business, politics, the media and the royals. He has worked for four national newspapers and BBC News, where he became Editorial Director in 2019.
Kamal is Vice President of the Society of Editors, which campaigns for media freedom. He is also a trustee of Media Trust, which works with the media and creative industries to give marginalised groups and young people a stronger voice.
After leaving the BBC, Kamal co-founded and became Editor-in-Chief of The News Movement, a new media business headquartered in London, and New York focused on social media channels, new audiences and digital consumption, which is to be trusted and objective.
Kamal Ahmed Career:
Kamal began his reporting career working for local newspapers in Scotland and then Scotland on Sunday.
In 1994, he moved to The Guardian as a Royal Correspondent and then as Media Editor. Switching titles to The Observer as Political Editor, Kamal became Executive Editor of News, leading the team through the newspaper’s relaunch, which won Newspaper of the Year in 2006.
After briefly leaving journalism in 2007, Kamal was the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s group Director of Communications.
In 2009, he returned to the press as Business Editor for The Daily Telegraph.
In 2014, Kamal was recruited as Business Editor for BBC News. After two years, he became Economics Editor before being appointed Editorial Director. Kamal worked across news strategy, daily news and planning, commissioning, analysis, visual and audio journalism and new forms of digital content.
He was a member of the Newsgroup Board, the Sounds Board and the BBC’s Senior Executive Group.
In 2013, Kamal was the inaugural winner of the CFA Society’s Ethical and Professional Standards Award.
In 2018, Kamal’s book The Life and Times of a Very British Man was published. The book is Kamal’s autobiographical account of growing up as a mixed-race child in the 1970s.
Kamal Ahmed is available to present keynote speeches and facilitate conferences.
