Whisper appoints new managing director
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 22 July 2019

Sports and live event TV production specialist Whisper has announced has promoted its head of television Mark Cole as managing director.

Founded in 2015 by Bafta-winning producer and CEO Sunil Patel, TV broadcaster Jake Humphrey and former F1 driver and current F1 commentator David Coulthard, Whisper is co-owned by Channel 4, which has a minority stake in the business.

Patel is now overseeing and working across all five Whisper Group companies, steering the company’s creative vision for all productions. Cole (pictured) will manage the day-to-day running of Whisper with immediate effect and will shortly appoint a new head of sport, an additional executive producer and technical lead, as it continues to focus on, and grow, its three core specialisms; sports, live events and unscripted.

Cole joined Whisper in 2016 from the BBC, where he was head of football, in charge of iconic football programme Match of the Day, the FA Cup and World Cup Coverage. During 17 years at the BBC he worked across big events including London 2012 Olympics, Open Golf, Cricket World Cup, London Marathon and Wimbledon.

The company says that the promotion comes at a time of significant expansion after the recently creation of parent company The Whisper Group, which oversees Whisper, Whisper Wales (Cardiff), Whisper West (Maidenhead), non-scripted entertainment specialists East Media.East Media and motion graphics design agency Chapter 3 Graphics.

“To appoint someone of Mark’s calibre three years ago, was a real mark in the sand for us and a demonstration of our growing ambitions,” Patel remarked. “Since then, Mark has been an intrinsic part of our development and has helped secure significant contracts, such as The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Women’s Six Nations, the Rugby World Cup, SailGP and the Women’s Super League, as well as helping evolve our coverage of NFL, Formula One and W Series. I’m delighted he is now managing director and I know he will continue to do a great job.”

Cole added: “Over the last three years it’s been fantastic to work with such a great team who have continued to raise the bar on sport and live events coverage, including our award-winning NFL and F1 programming. As managing director, I’m hugely excited about the challenge ahead, including delivering The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and continuing the growth in women’s sport, which has been a big passion for us all. We will keep investing in the best production talent, putting creativity at the heart of everything we do and producing entertainment-led content for audiences across the World.”