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Mark Thompson (born July 31, 1957) is Director-General of the BBC as of 2006, and a former chief executive of Channel 4. Born in London and brought up in Hertfordshire, he went to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and Merton College, Oxford, where he took a first in English. He now lives in Oxford with his American wife Jane, and has three children.

Thompson was appointed Director-General on May 21, 2004. He succeeded Greg Dyke, who resigned on January 29 2004 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry. Although he had originally stated he was not interested in the role of Director-General and would turn down any approach from the BBC, he changed his mind, saying the job was a "one-of-a-kind opportunity". The decision to appoint Thompson Director-General was made unanimously by the BBC Board of Governors, headed by new Chairman Michael Grade (another former chief executive of Channel 4). His appointment was widely praised: Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Shadow Culture Secretary Julie Kirkbride and Greg Dyke were amongst those who supported his selection. He took up the role of Director-General on June 22 2004 (Mark Byford had been Acting Director-General since Dyke's resignation). On his first day he announced several management changes, including the replacement of the BBC's sixteen-person executive committee with a slimmed-down executive board of nine top managers. His salary for the year 2004/2005 (as disclosed by the BBC) was £453,000, not including a bonus which he waived for this period.

He first joined the BBC as a production trainee in 1979. His subsequent career within the organisation has been varied, including:

• 1981 - assisted launching long-running consumer programme Watchdog
• 1983 - assisted launching Breakfast Time
• 1985 - Output Editor, Newsnight
• 1988 - Editor, Nine O'Clock News
• 1990 - Editor, Panorama
• 1992 - Head of Features
• 1994 - Head of Factual Programmes
• 1996 - Controller, BBC Two
• 1999 - Director, National and Regional Broadcasting

In April 2000 he became BBC director of television, but left the corporation in March 2002 to become chief executive of Channel 4.

• How the BBC is run: Mark Thompson (BBC)
• Channel 4 boss lands BBC top job (BBC)
• New BBC boss announces shake-up (BBC)
• BBC Technology sold (BBC)
• Thompson "to transform BBC" (BBC)
• Will Thompson be toast over the day he bit a BBC colleague? (Guardian)
• BBC boss sank teeth into his newsroom colleague (Telegraph)
• Biting comment over job cuts at the BBC (Times)
• BBC job cuts parody (Deadbrain)
• Thompson welcomes strike suspension (BBC)
• BBC Resources sell-off delayed (Press Gazette)
• Thompson sells BBC Broadcast - which becomes Red Bee Media (BBC)
• Thompson flogs Books - to Random House (BBC)
• BBC changes mark a digital future (BBC)
• Creative Future and Looney Tunes (Guardian)