Maverick's board is made up from a variety of professionals from all areas of business. Their individual skills are perfectly channelled into creating a supporting figurehead for the company.
Alexandra Fraser and Jim Sayer run Maverick together – driving the creative and commercial ambitions for the company.
Alex has been the creative force behind Maverick for 17 years creating and producing flagships shows including Embarrassing Bodies, How To Look Good Naked and Ten Years Younger. Previously Alex spent ten years at the BBC where she was part of the commissioning team for Daytime BBC One & Two, prior to which she produced and directed many high profile news, drama, documentary and radio programmes including The Clothes Show. Alex is also the author of a number of Maverick titles including Trade Secrets.
Jim and Alex first worked together on The Property Chain in 2003 – a Maverick produced series for Channel 4.
Two years later, Jim joined the company permanently as an Executive Producer, before becoming the Managing Director in 2006. Jim’s previous credits include the highly acclaimed series Brat Camp for Channel 4, Manhunt for BBC One and Where Do We Come From? for Five.
In recent years Maverick has experienced rapid growth, and joined the All3Media group in 2007. The company has forged a reputation as the premier producer of lifestyle programmes, challenging documentaries, digital content and award winning cross platform projects.
Maverick is rich in ideas, innovative in approach, mischievous in outlook, and uncompromising in its sense of purpose.
Ben joined Maverick from the BBC where he was Head of Bristol Factual, the award-winning In House Production department responsible for Human Planet, Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers, DIY SOS: The Big Build (BBC One); Protecting Our Children, (BBC Two); Elegance and Decadence with Lucy Worsley (BBC4); and the Hairy Bikers' Best of British for BBC Daytime.
Previously he was Director of Programmes at Channel 5 and the BBC’s Commissioning Editor for Features and Formats where he commissioned, amongst others, Don't Tell the Bride, The Baby Borrowers and Freaky Eaters for BBC Three; The Supersizers Go...Nigella Express, James Wong’s Grow Your Own Drugs for BBC Two; and relaunched Crimewatch on BBC One. He was also the BBC’s Executive Producer on the first series of the Bafta-award-winning The Choir.
Ben started his career at the BBC where he co-produced Airport before leaving to join Lion TV where he made programmes for all the UK terrestials and many US broadcasters. He then joined Wall to Wall to Series Edit the first series of Who Do You Think You Are? before returning to the BBC to join the commissioning team.
Jonnie has produced and directed public service drama, documentary and digital media over the last 25 years from the west midlands, UK. Following from his career as an artist in his own right his touchstone has been collaborative film, television and digital production.
Acknowledged across the industry as a forward thinker, he has applied new video, technology and digital techniques to create innovative styles and approaches to award winning television and media. Jonnie pioneered the use of new technology in television, both in the use of small-format cameras and high-end post-production graphics. This digital approach led to many early successes, such as the much-loved Trade Secrets series, award-winning DV dramas Blazed, The Visit and Nightshift and laid the foundations for a mainstream approach to digital media with Ideas Factory, Teachers Tv, award winning Embarrassing Bodies online and digital health service NHS local.
Throughout his career he has contributed to the development and delivery of policy across the screen industries and has always had a special focus on education, health and digital programming alongside young and diverse people’s filmmaking. He is a director of Creative England, the children’s charity First Light Movies, a member of Birmingham Science City and a trustee of the Birmingham Ormiston Academy.
He was a Regional Development Agency board director, a member of The Innovation Technology Council and is an Honorary Fellow of Warwick University. Jonnie was awarded an MBE for services to international trade in the Queens 2010 New Years honours List.
Liza joined Maverick Television in 2010 as Commercial Director. Her role covers the ancillary exploitation of our slate. This is a broad brush stroke that encompasses everything from our international sales, (acquisitions and formats) through to publishing and merchandising, PRTS and UK Secondary sales.
She started her career in News and Current Affairs at the BBC. Having covered numerous political events from European Elections to reforming the House of Lords, she moved to ITV where she went on to launch the new genre of Lifestyle and Daytime at ITV Studios. Here she oversaw all commercial and production elements of over 1,500 hours of programming a year; the department grew within 3 years to be the biggest and most profitable of any genre at ITV. Liza then moved to IMG as Director of Production and New Business where she was involved with the launch of the Indian Premier League, now one of sport’s most lucrative events. In 2009 she joined the start up team at CrackIt Productions and also acted as a consultant for ITV plc overseeing the restructure of their Daytime output.
Alex qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002 joining Maverick soon after. Having qualified with a degree in Biochemistry from Birmingham University Alex enjoyed a previous career as a Forensic Scientist but after a few years in DNA Analysis he hung up his lab coat for a business career. He has been with the company through significant growth and manages all of the financial operations of the company. Alex also holds a non executive position on the board of Dancexchange, the National Dance Agency for the West Midlands.
Dan
heads up Maverick’s digital division. He has been Executive Producer for the multiplatform
elements of more than twenty prime time shows, ranging from Embarrassing Bodies, Grand Designs and Gok’s Teens to The Real Hustle and The Model Agency, along with numerous brand-funded projects, chart-topping apps and YouTube channels. He has also Exec Produced the Film4 and 4Homes sites for Channel4, and was recently co-Executive Producer on the interactive Channel 4 series Live from the Clinic.
Under Dan’s stewardship, the Maverick multiplatform department has been awarded four BAFTAs, an Emmy, four Royal Television Society Awards (including the 2010 Judges Award for Innovation) two Broadcast Digital awards, two British Interactive Media Association awards, a World Media Award, and numerous others, along with nominations from the likes of the Emmys, Rose d’Or, and the Association of Online Publishers. Dan has been a Broadcast Hotshot, and was named University of Birmingham Alumnus of the Year in 2008. Previously a multiplatform producer, he also founded the 4Talent awards and was Editor-in-Chief of 4Talent magazine, as well as launching Rolling Stock, the world's first film festival using newly installed screens on trains. He has been a judge for the BAFTA TV awards, BAFTA Craft, Broadcast Digital, D&AD and the BIMA awards, and sits on the PACT Digital Group and the BBC Online Advisory Group.