GBC's CEO James Neish to leave post when three year contract expires

GBC's CEO James Neish will be leaving the post when his three year contract expires in a few months time.

This has been announced to staff this morning with a joint statement released by James Neish and the GBC Board.

The statement says it's been a transformative three years for GBC under his tenure as CEO.   It says that since taking up the position in 2022, James has re-energised the station, improved LOCAL output, and almost tripled audience satisfaction ratings across Television, Radio, and News. He has led-on a massive transformation of the output, and the huge positive impact on the community has clearly been felt.

The Board regrets that after thoughtful discussion and mutual reflection, James Neish should have decided not to extend his contract beyond its current term.

It adds it was hopeful they could reach an agreement, saying there have been ongoing talks over a potential extension over the past few weeks but that regrettably in the end this was not possible.

Wishing him the best, Board Chair Alice Mascarenhas says the Board is sorry to see James Neish leave GBC, adding his time with the Corporation as its CEO has seen vast improvements, the most recent example of which has been the extraordinary coverage of the Treaty announcement which, she says, was a credit to both his leadership and the staff at GBC.

James Neish says the decision was not taken lightly and follows careful consideration of a range of personal and professional factors.

He told staff he was proud of what had been accomplished together, often under extremely challenging circumstances.  

He thanked every member of staff, adding he will continue being a fan of GBC and supporting it in any way he can. 

Alice Mascarenhas- GBC Board Chair:

"James Neish's commitment to engaging the community has been exceptional. The idea of introducing Radio Gibraltar’s ‘Gibraltar Today’ on GBC Television has worked extremely well and proven to be of great success. There is no doubt he is leaving strong foundations for his successor. 

The GBC Board and I fully supported him staying but we respect his decision and now wish him all the very best in his new endeavours. We know he will keep in touch, and we therefore look forward to seeing what he does next, and to the contributions he will make to GBC.

At a personal level, I have worked with James since his first days as an intern at GBC and have closely followed his career achievements over the years, and his move to the UK. Knowing that we both share the same views on the role of ‘community radio and television’ I was greatly looking forward to working with him once again.”

James Neish GBC CEO:

"I want to express my sincere gratitude to the GBC Board for their strong encouragement for me to continue in the role. I have offered myself to the Board to assist, if needed, in any way I can in the future.”