Michael Dugher
ChairMichael moved to become Chair of the BGC in April 2024, having been appointed as the BGC’s first Chief Executive back in December 2019.
He was previously CEO of UK Music, the umbrella organisation that represents the commercial music industry, and was a member of the Government’s Creative Industries Council.
Before then, Michael was Member of Parliament for Barnsley East for seven years from 2010, during which he served in the Shadow Cabinet including as the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Michael spent most of the previous decade working in Whitehall in a variety of senior roles as a Special Advisor, including at No. 10 Downing Street as Chief Political Spokesman for the Prime Minister.
As well as chairing the BGC, Michael is a Director and Board member at Nottingham Forest Football Club in the English Premier League, having been Patron and then Board member at their charity, the Nottingham Forest Community Trust. He is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Tourism Alliance and is a Senior Advisor at Brunswick.
Born and brought up in Doncaster in South Yorkshire, Michael has had a lifelong love of sport, in particular football, cricket and horse racing. In 2020 he was named by the Racing Post as one of the ‘top ten most influential people’ in racing.
Michael holds a B.A in Politics from the University of Nottingham and was awarded a Fellowship from the Leeds Conservatoire (formerly the Leeds College of Music).