The Rt Hon the Baroness Morgan of Cotes, Nicky Morgan has been appointed the new Chair of the Advertising Standards Authority. She will succeed our current Chair, The Lord Currie of Marylebone, David Currie on 1 November 2024. 

The appointment by the Advertising Standards Boards of Finance (asbof and basbof), the bodies that fund the advertising regulatory system, follows consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Ofcom and the Advertising Association.  

Baroness Morgan, a non-practising solicitor is the former MP for Loughborough (2010 – 2019), and is now a member of the House of Lords. She has had a distinguished political career, including:  

• Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (24 July 2019 - 13 February 2020) 
• Chair, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee (July 2017 – 24 July 2019) 
• Secretary of State for Education (15 July 2014 - 13 July 2016) 
• Minister for Women and Equalities (15 July 2014 - 13 July 2016) 

Baroness Morgan will be the 12th Chair in our 62-year history. She will chair our Council, which is the body that decides whether ads across UK media have breached the Advertising Codes, oversees our more proactive project-based approach to tackling issues and sets the strategic direction of the ASA. 

When he steps down, Lord Currie will have chaired the ASA for seven years. In that time, he has steered the ASA in successfully delivering our last five-year strategy ‘More impact online’ and overseen the launch of our new one: ‘AI-assisted collective ad regulation’. He has overseen the establishment of our data science capability, in particular our use of AI to help us deliver vastly more effective regulation of the rapidly growing online advertising environment, our Intermediary and Platforms Principles pilot and our further shift away from reactive complaints casework towards proactive regulatory projects. 

Mark Lund, Chair of asbof and basbof said: 

“I’m delighted that Nicky will be the next ASA Chair. UK advertising’s great creative and commercial success is underwritten by the ASA’s agile and intelligent regulation, and in Nicky we have someone of real stature with an acute understanding of the advertising landscape. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to David for contributing so presciently and adroitly to the ongoing effectiveness of the ASA system.” 

Baroness Morgan said: 

“It’s a great pleasure to be joining the ASA and following in Lord Currie’s footsteps. The UK ad industry is world leading not only in terms of its creativity but also the gold standard regulation that is in place. With a new five-year strategy to deliver, the regulatory challenges and opportunities of AI, the sheer scale of online content and our ongoing commitment to protecting young and vulnerable people from potential ad related harms and the focus on climate change and the environment, I look forward to championing the ASA system and helping to deliver the diverse and important work the ASA undertakes.” 

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