NCTJ appoints new accreditation board chair

The NCTJ has appointed Michelle Johnson as the new chair of the accreditation board.

Michelle is editorial director of a boutique creative agency, Vantage Media, and editor-in-chief of award-winning luxury lifestyle magazine Tempus.

With 15 years’ experience in magazine journalism, Michelle has worked for international brands such as HELLO!, launched contract titles including Burlington Magazine, and hosted live interviews at the likes of BAFTA and London Film and Comic Con.

She said: “I am so pleased to get started as the chair of the NCTJ’s accreditation board.

“It is a pleasure to work alongside the other members of the board, who are all just as passionate as me about upholding the high standard of NCTJ-accredited courses.

“NCTJ qualifications are always evolving to remain relevant in our industry and our accredited courses are key to delivering that quality training to the next generation of journalists.”

Michelle has been a member of the accreditation board since November 2021.

She succeeds Abbie Scott, former deputy managing editor at the Financial Times, who held the position from July 2019 to July 2023.

Abbie stepped down last summer after she became director of operations at the FT.

The purpose of the NCTJ’s accreditation board is to plan and inform the NCTJ’s accreditation strategy, providing guidance, advice and oversight of the accreditation performance standards.

Other members currently on the board include:

• Lisa Bradley, deputy head of the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Sheffield
• Maria Breslin, editor, Liverpool Echo
• Tim Dawson, national executive member, NUJ
• Louise Hastings, managing editor, Sky News
• Luke Jacobs, homepages/digital editor, The Guardian
• Ian Reeves, head of the Centre for Journalism, University of Kent

Michelle has also been appointed as a trustee of the NCTJ and will attend her first board meeting of the charity in June.