Channel 4 has appointed Diane Herbert as its new HR director, replacing Peter Meier who is stepping down after four years with the television channel.
Herbert, currently the HR executive responsible for more than 6,600 Walt Disney Company staff in 11 separate business units across three continents, will join Channel 4 in March, reporting directly to chief executive Andy Duncan.
Duncan said: “Peter has succeeded in putting HR right at the top of the channel’s agenda in the last four years and making significant improvements in our internal culture.
“In Diane we are confident we have found an outstanding practitioner who is capable of building on all [Meier’s] hard work and meeting the challenges of managing and motivating a creative workforce in a fast-moving and high-pressure industry.”
Herbert said: “I’ve had nine great years with Disney and I’ll be very sad to leave, but I’m equally excited by the opportunity to join such a dynamic and widely admired company and work with [Duncan] to put his strategic plan for Channel 4.”
Herbert joined Walt Disney in 1996, initially with the Disney Store Europe, and rose to become the business unit’s HR director in 1999. A year later she was promoted to vice-president for HR for Disney Consumer Products and in March 2001 took on the same role for Disney in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Prior to joining Disney, Herbert worked in HR for a variety of blue-chip companies, including Guinness Brewing Worldwide, Motorola and BOC.
Meier is taking early retirement from Channel 4. He will not be seeking another full-time role, but will continue to work as a consultant and in a non-executive capacity.
