Page 58 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Anne Mensah
Media, Publishing & Entertainment Head of Drama, Sky

A powerful woman in British TV, Anne plays a crucial role in
shaping the agenda for TV dramas on Sky.
This year she revealed her plans for the broadcaster to
develop smaller-budget “more heartfelt” shows that are
deliberately contemporary and “tap into British values”.
She has worked at Sky for more than six years, overseeing
the entertainment channels.
She has ratcheted up a number of notable successes,
including Delicious with Dawn French and Emilia Fox which
was Sky 1’s most successful original series ever with an
average audience of 1.59million viewers.
Other critically acclaimed shows include Stan Lee’s Lucky
Man and Guerrilla, written and directed by Academy Award
winner John Ridley and starring Idris Elba.
Anne began her career in television in 1994, working at
Carlton Television as a graduate management trainee. She
later joined Noel Gay Television where she helped to produce
the RTS award-winning documentary Windrush for BBC2
before becoming Managing Director.
She later joined the BBC, where she was latterly Head of
Independent Drama alongside her role as Head of Drama
for BBC Scotland. Her double role required her to manage
and oversee all independent drama output across the BBC
channels as well as all drama output from Scotland.
Her notable commissions at the broadcaster included the
Paulette Simpson multi award-winning Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh,
Case Histories starring Jason Isaacs, and God on Trial with
Executive, Corporate Affairs and Public Policy, Stephen Dillane, Dominic Cooper, Stellan Skarsgard and Sir
Jamaica National Bank; Executive Director, The Antony Sher. Other shows include BAFTA and RTS award
Voice Media Group winning Bodies and Waterloo Road.
The Royal Television Society has described Anne as
Multi-tasker extraordinaire, Paulette combines two important “Drama’s Unique Voice”. Speaking about success, she said:
and influential positions. She is the country head for Jamaica “I think that the simplest thing I’ve learnt is that when
National Bank, overseeing the organisation’s transition from someone says ‘can you?’, always say ‘yes’. Never lie about
a building society to a bank. She also heads the Voice Media your abilities but equally never underestimate your ability
Group and is the strategic force behind the re-emergence of to work hard and learn the thing you don’t yet know. And
Britain’s oldest black newspaper. She has been at Jamaica never pass up an interesting opportunity – you never know
National for 15 years and has been the face of the organisation what adventure it will take you on!”
in the UK for the majority of that time.
She is a well-known community figure and has made sure
that JN Bank, and more recently The Voice newspaper, are
at the forefront of supporting and sponsoring community
initiatives.
JN Bank contributes enormously to the Jamaican economy
with home remittances making up a sizeable portion of its
business in the UK, more than any other country worldwide.
She has previously worked with the UK operations of
National Commercial Bank, Jamaica, and began her career
with Price Waterhouse Coopers, where she specialised in
business development, training and marketing for six years.
During that period, she was seconded to the Commonwealth
Secretariat to develop and deliver a training programme for
young women in business in Zambia.
Paulette represented the UK community on the Jamaica
Diaspora Advisory Board, and in that capacity advised
the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade for four years about issues relating to the
Jamaican Diaspora in the UK.
She holds an MBA from the University of Westminster and
a Business Studies degree from the University of Stirling.

54 Powerlist 2019