About Sharon
Sharon Baylay was most recently the Director of the BBC's Marketing, Communications & Audiences division and responsible for all Marketing, Communications, Audience Research and Audience Services across the BBC. She joined the BBC Executive Board in May 2009, became a non-executive Director of BBC Worldwide in February 2010 and was also a Board member of Freesat and Digital UK. With a staff of circa 450 she had overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the BBC brand portfolio and led all internal and external communications through a time of great change in the organisation. Prior to the BBC Sharon was General Manager for Microsoft's Online Services Group in the UK, where she had overall responsibility for running the Windows Live and MSN portal and advertising businesses. During her time in this role Sharon oversaw the introduction of the new MSN Search and adCentre services, including the acquisition of Multimap to deliver enhanced local search and mapping functionality. She also oversaw improvements to Hotmail and Messenger, including establishing relationships with the premier social networking sites - Facebook and Bebo.
Sample Topics
Marketing;
Technology;
Social Networking
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Sharon Baylay was most recently the Director of the BBC's Marketing, Communications & Audiences division and responsible for all Marketing, Communications, Audience Research and Audience Services across the BBC. She joined the BBC Executive Board in May 2009, became a non-executive Director of BBC Worldwide in February 2010 and was also a Board member of Freesat and Digital UK. With a staff of circa 450 she had overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the BBC brand portfolio and led all internal and external communications through a time of great change in the organisation. Covering all aspects of the BBC's response to such challenges as executive pay and remuneration, highlights including the new Doctor Who and launch of History of the World in 100 Objects with the British Museum and issues management such as the Corporations internal response to and handling of strike action relating to pension changes. Managing through a period of transition she also implemented re-organisations of both the Marketing and Communications teams, introducing a Strategic review and redefinition of the Marketing organisation to incorporate a new Vision and strategy for the group, and introduced a new marketing organisation to support BBC Salford. Significantly during this time of change, a culture of excellence continued collecting some significant accolades recognising outstanding work including a BAFTA for Winter Olympics trails, another BAFTA for South Africa World Cup trails, and a Cannes Lion for History of the World in 100 Objects. Former General Manager, Microsoft Online Services Group, UK Prior to the BBC Sharon was General Manager for Microsoft's Online Services Group in the UK, where she had overall responsibility for running the Windows Live and MSN portal and advertising businesses. During her time in this role Sharon oversaw the introduction of the new MSN Search and adCentre services, including the acquisition of Multimap to deliver enhanced local search and mapping functionality. She also oversaw improvements to Hotmail and Messenger, including establishing relationships with the premier social networking sites - Facebook and Bebo. Sharon also managed the integration of ScreenTonic and aQuantive which saw the introduction of enhanced mobile and direct advertising services. As a result Sharon took the UK online services group to be the largest and most successful international online subsidiary for Microsoft. Sharon took up this role having spent the previous five years running international MSN business in Asia Pacific, Greater China, Canada, the Americas and EMEA where she was responsible for overseeing all joint ventures and partnerships and developing other new business opportunities in these countries, as well as implementing investment strategies for emerging markets to help extend MSN's lead in global reach. In her previous role as Regional Marketing Director of MSN EMEA, Sharon was responsible for building the MSN brand into the number one web destination for consumers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and for the last fifteen years she has worked at the leading edge of new technology in developing and emerging markets. Many of her experiences are related to how information technology is becoming a significant enabler of the economies and people in these countries. Sharon learnt her skills managing the growth of emerging markets from 1996 when she worked as a regional manager for Africa, Mediterranean and Middle East region specifically running Microsoft's Anti-Piracy and Internet Security team. In 1998, she moved to become marketing manager for a Microsoft team dedicated to bringing interactive television to the UK. This involved a major collaboration between a number of partners including BBC, BT and Pace Technology plc and led to the first major trial of interactive television content and delivery to homes in the UK. Before joining Microsoft, Sharon worked in the PC and PC Services Industry for Olivetti and was an Accredited IBM, Apple and Compaq Systems Sales Manager. Sharon is a member of WACL and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and has travelled the world extensively in her roles at BBC and Microsoft. She lives in Wimbledon, South London with her partner and their three sons.
