Normoyle Leaving Head of Audience Role at BBC

According to reports in the press, the BBC's Director of Marketing & Audiences Helen Normoyle is leaving the broadcaster in May, to become Chief Marketing Officer at furniture retailer DFS.

Normoyle, who took up her current position in 2008, previously served as Ofcom's Director of Market Research, and later as its Director of Media Literacy and Convergent Media, responsible for the team which developed the statutory requirement for the promotion of media literacy.

Before this, she worked at Motorola as Director of Global Consumer Insights and Product Marketing, and she held roles at Infratest, and GfK.

In an interview published by Marketing Week at the beginning of the month, Normoyle said that the government's six year freeze of the BBC's licence fee meant she was tasked with delivering savings of 25%, but that the cut in budget would not necessarily equate to 25% less work.

According to online publication The Drum, Normoyle emailed staff to say she was leaving, with the comment: 'It is very hard to leave such an energetic and talented team who have achieved so much, but I do so knowing that the Marketing & Audiences team will continue to thrive under new leadership.'

Web sites: www.bbc.co.uk and www.dfs.co.uk .