John Kampfner is Director of the Creative Industries Federation. The new membership organisation, which began its work in March 2014, will be the independent voice for the creative industries in the UK. He is also Chair of the board of Turner Contemporary, one of the UK's most successful cultural institutions. The opening of the gallery in Margate in April 2011 received plaudits around the world, and within two years it received one million visitors.

From 2012 to the start of 2014 he was adviser to Google on freedom of expression. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, one of the world's leading free expression organisations. In late 2009 Index launched a successful campaign to change UK libel laws. He began his career as a foreign correspondent with the Daily Telegraph, first in East Berlin where he reported on the fall of the Wall and the unification of Germany, and then in Moscow at the time of the collapse of Soviet Communism. He went on to become Chief Political Correspondent at the FT and political commentator for the BBC's Today programme.