Portland’s Advisory Council works with our senior management team to oversee all aspects of Portland’s strategy and development. Most importantly, the Advisory Council challenges us to ensure that we provide the best possible service to our clients, now and in the future.

Tony Ball – Chair

Tony Ball is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Germany’s largest cable operator. He is also a board member of the Olympic Delivery Authority for the 2012 London Olympic Games and a non-executive director of both the British Telecom Group plc and the Spanish cable company ONO SA.

He served as Chief Executive of BSkyB from 1999 to 2003 and led the company through the strongest period of growth in its history, doubling the number of subscribers and converting the entire base to digital.

Prior to this he spent a number of years working in the USA where he was the Chief Executive Officer of FOX/LIBERTY Networks, which included the FX Networks, Fox SportsNet and over 20 Regional Sports Channels throughout the USA. He also served as President of Fox Sports International where he oversaw the creation and the operation of sports television businesses in North America, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Before going to the USA he held a number of senior positions in UK broadcasting, starting his career as a broadcasting engineer at Thames Television.

Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo was a minister for eleven years and held three positions in the Cabinet, including Secretary of State for Defence.

He worked for the Conservative Party and for government ministers between 1976 and 1983. He entered the House of Commons in 1984.

He lost his seat at the 1997 election, and began to develop a career in the media. He returned to the Commons between 2000 and 2005, was Shadow Chancellor, and contested the leadership of the party in 2001, unsuccessfully.

Since leaving politics, he has devoted himself to writing and broadcasting. He writes for the Sunday Times and is a regular on both BBC 1’s “This Week” programme and Radio 4’s “Moral Maze”. He has made documentaries on subjects as diverse as Richard Wagner and the death penalty. In 2008 he chaired the judges of the Man Booker prize.

He attended Harrow County grammar school and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he read history.

Sir Chris Powell

Chris is Chair of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance. He is also Chair of DrFoster Llp and Parcelgenie.

He is Non executive Director of PWC Advisory Board and Renew and Trustee of IPPR and Riverside Studios.

Previously, he was Chair of NESTA, an NHS Health Authority and the British Council Creative Industries Advisory Panel.

He was Partner, CEO and then Chair of Advertising Agency BMP DDB.