Simon Bucks is the former Chief Executive of BFBS, the organisation set up to entertain and inform Britain's Armed Forces around the world.
Simon has a long experience of media organisations as a journalist and editorial executive. He began his career as a news reporter with South West News Service in Bristol, before moving into television, initially with HTV, before joining ITN where he rose to be Senior Programme Editor. At different times he edited all of ITN’s programmes on ITV, including News at Ten.
From ITN he became Head of News, and later Controller of Programmes, at London News Network, the Carlton-LWT joint venture which produced London Tonight and other news and factual programmes for the London ITV region.
After a period as an independent producer and consultant, during which he executive produced the Millennium Night show for ITV and co-founded a media communications business with his wife, Cheryl Armitage, Simon moved to Sky News, initially in charge of the business news unit. Later, as a specialist executive producer, he supervised major coverage including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and the first anniversary of 9/11.
After promotion to be Sky News’ Associate Editor, Simon moved to the digital department where he led the introduction of interactivity and user-generated content. His role also focused on developing the commercialisation of Sky News’ digital platforms. Simon has a long-standing commitment to media innovation and was a key member of the cross-broadcaster group which campaigned successfully for cameras to be allowed into courtrooms.
Simon is a Fellow of the Society of Editors and was previously a director and past President of the Society. Until November 2015 he was a member of the Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee (aka the D-Notice, or DA-Notice, Committee), latterly as Vice-Chair and Chair of the media side.
Simon is a history graduate of the Open University. He and Cheryl live near Blackheath in London. They have two children, Anna who is a freelance current affairs TV producer and Jonathan, a newspaper journalist.