Bloomsbury appoints Keith Underwood as chief financial and operating officer

Bloomsbury has appointed Keith Underwood as chief financial and operating officer. He will report to chief executive Nigel Newton and will join on 2nd February 2026. Underwood will take over the role from current group finance director Penny Scott-Bayfield. He will join the board of directors of Bloomsbury.

Underwood said: “I am delighted to be joining Nigel Newton and his team at Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury has achieved hugely impressive growth with an increasingly diversified, high-quality portfolio distributed across more geographies, in more formats than ever before. In a dynamic media market, with rapid technological transformation, I look forward to working as part of the Bloomsbury team to harness new opportunities and deliver sustained success in the years ahead.”

Underwood joins from Guardian Media Group (GMG) where he is chief financial and operating officer, and was previously interim CEO. He joined GMG in June 2020 as an executive member of the board with responsibility for financial stewardship, operational performance and helping to shape the strategic direction of the group. 

Before GMG, Underwood worked at Channel 4 as chief financial and operating officer and spent more than eight years on the executive committee. Prior to joining Channel 4, he was employed by Discovery Networks International, Sky and PwC. He is a chartered accountant.

He is also a board member of Digital Catapult, a digital technology innovation organisation that helps businesses grow by applying advanced digital technology. He has previously served as chairman of Freeview and a board director of Digital UK and YouView.

Newton said: “I am greatly looking forward to working with Keith and benefiting from his significant media, finance, operations and AI expertise. He joins as Bloomsbury grasps the huge opportunity of artificial intelligence, licensing content for significant future revenue while increasing operational efficiency. Keith has the perfect experience to help deliver these ambitions for Bloomsbury and its shareholders. Penny Scott-Bayfield has been a wonderful colleague, I thank her for her huge contribution to Bloomsbury and shall miss her greatly.”