Susan Woodward OBE
Founding Director, The Space and Sharp Projects
Susan Woodward is the Creative Media Champion for the City of Manchester responsible for creating and delivering strategic opportunities for the City to grow its digital and creative sector.
She was Managing Director of ITV Granada from 2003 to 2008. Her career began as a newspaper journalist working in Liverpool and then Fleet Street. She then moved into television and worked for ITV, the BBC, and Channel 4.
Whilst Director of Broadcasting for ITV Granada, she was seconded to be the Creative Director for the 2002 Commonwealth Games responsible for content, management and budget of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and all media and marketing campaigns. The 2002 Commonwealth Games are widely regarded as a pivotal moment in the establishment of a new civic confidence for the people of Manchester.
Susan was awarded the OBE by the Queen for services to Broadcasting, and the Commonwealth Games.
She has served as a Board member of The Manchester Partnership Board for four years, helping deliver on the Local Area Agreement targets for the city.
Sue chaired the Liverpool City Region Health Is Wealth Commission – set up to examine ways to improve the region’s economic prosperity by identifying ways to improve the health of the people of Merseyside by a stakeholder group that includes, amongst others, the Strategic Health Authority; the University of Liverpool, NWDA, Liverpool and Wirral PCT and Merseyside Police and Fire services. Following the Commission’s report, Susan was appointed as a Director of the University of Liverpool.
In 2003, she was appointed Creative Director for the city of Liverpool and wrote the creative bid which secured for Liverpool the title of European Capital of Culture 2008. She established the Capital of Culture delivery company responsible for the delivery of the artistic programme for 2008.
She was named Business Woman of the Year for the North West of England in 2005 and again in 2013.
Susan sits on the Advisory Board for the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, part of the British Science Museum Group.
In 2013, she was made a Fellow of the New York based Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (TDIA), which celebrates those whose ideas have broken the mold to create significant impact. Her most recent public appointment is to the Business Support Board of the newly formed Greater Manchester Business Growth Company.