Lord Puttnam

Chair Atticus Education and Independent Producer, UK and Ireland

David Puttnam is the chair of Atticus Education, an online education company which delivers interactive seminars to educational institutions around the world. As an independent producer of award-winning films and he has won ten Oscars, 25 Baftas and the Palme D'Or at Cannes David has served as Vice President and Chair of Trustees at the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) and was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in 2006. 

In 1998 he founded the National Teaching Awards, which he chaired until 2008, acting as the first Chair of the General Teaching Council.  As president of UNICEF UK, David engaged with issues as diverse as water security and child trafficking. David served as Chancellor of the Open University and previously served as Chancellor of The University of Sunderland. He was Deputy Chairman of Channel 4 Television and The Sage Gateshead, founding Chair of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts and Chair of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and the National Film and Television School.  He has also served as a trustee of the Tate Gallery, the Science Museum, The Thomson Foundation.

He is Ireland's Digital Champion; President of the Film Distributors’ Association; Chair of the TSL Advisory Board; Chair of the Academic Board, Pearson College; a UNICEF Ambassador and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies and Digital Humanities at University College Cork.

David was awarded a CBE in 1982, a knighthood in 1995 and was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997. He is the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma.