John Spencer

John Spencer is Group Managing Editor of the Press Association, the national news agency for the UK and Ireland.

A journalist, John joined the PA in 1999 as Managing Editor after 20 years in regional newspapers, including 15 years at The Star, Sheffield, where he held a number of senior editorial and management posts. Over the last five years he has had responsibility for setting up and growing the PA’s two editorial production centres in India, one in Mangalore in the south of the country and the other in Pune, near Mumbai. These centres now employ more than 230 people, enabling the company to provide 24/7 services to newspapers, broadcasters and media players in the digital space.

His relationship with the CPU goes back to 1986 when he won that year’s Harry Brittain scholarship for British journalists and spent an extended period on newspapers in New Zealand.