As Geena Davis once noted, “It’s ridiculous that we would have the first woman anything in the 21st century.”

And yet here we are with the rather welcome news that Rona Fairhead has been hired by the British government as the first female chief of the BBC Trust. Fairhead is the former CEO of the Financial Times, the former CFO at Pearson, and has held non-executive directorships at HSBC, Pepsi, and The Economist Group.

The UK Culture Secretary Sajid Javid commented, “Rona Fairhead is an exceptional individual with a highly impressive career history. Her experience of working with huge multinational corporations will undoubtedly be a real asset at the BBC Trust. I have no doubt she will provide the strong leadership the position demands and will prove to be a worthy champion of license fee payers. I am sure that under Rona’s leadership the BBC will continue to play a central role in informing, educating and entertaining the nation.”

[via Variety]