Fru Hazlitt

Inspiring Businesswoman

Fru Hazlitt joined the Board of GCap Media plc on 1st May 2007 as Managing Director, GCap London with responsibility for 95.8 Capital Radio and Choice FM, in addition to GCap’s total online operations and national commercial sales.

In December 2007 assumed the role of Chief Executive.   24 hours before the appointment was announced the company received a takeover bid from Global Radio.  The bid was rejected at £1.90 and the management was then under enormous pressure to deliver a credible strategy to its shareholders and to convince them that the new management team was capable of delivering more value than the £1.90 on the table.

In February a plan was presented to create a new and modern media business that focused on creating multi platform branded communities and driving revenues. Radical decisions were taken in order to develop a sustainable and successful future for the business.  The next bid from Global Radio was received at the end of February for £2.02 which was also rejected; however in early March the offer was increased to £2.25 and after discussions with our shareholders the board of GCap agreed to recommend the offer. The deal closed on June 6th.

Fru previously spent 2 years as Chief Executive of Virgin Radio.  Prior to this Fru spent 6 years at Yahoo!  Firstly, as European Sales Director and then as MD of Yahoo UK & Ireland.  She arrived at a time when dot coms were moving from boom to bust and having faced this challenge she has a clear vision of the future of Interactive technology, the opportunity it presents and the need to listen to a generation who have grown up with the web.

She has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within the Media Sector including roles at The Guardian Media Group and Capital Radio.

Fru is non executive board director of Woolworths plc and Betfair and is a regular speaker at business forums and seminars.   In 2005 she was named by the CBI as UK’s First Woman of Media.

She is a dedicated runner having run nine marathons altogether and has 3 children under 6!