Diversity chief Amanda Ariss to leave CDN

Executive director Ariss will step down in mid-October, having joined the body in April 2015 from the Equality and Diversity Forum.

Ariss, who will leave London following her resignation, said she was standing down after more than 30 years of full-time work to make “some big changes in my lifestyle”.

Her departure comes after the launch of diversity monitoring scheme Diamond last month, which she hailed “a breakthrough moment” for the TV industry, despite Bectu’s threat to boycott the data-gathering initiative.

In the wake of the Diamond launch, Ariss said it was “the right time” to move on. “I’d like to thank the team at CDN and our partners for all their support and efforts helping us launch Diamond,” she added.

Creative Diversity Network chair and Pact chief executive of John McVay praised Diamond and Ariss’ accomplishments in establishing CDN as a permanent organisation.

“We’ve already begun work to recruit a high-calibre successor to maintain the development of Diamond and deliver some of the other diversity initiatives we plan to launch in the next few months,” he added.