Our leaders

Mike Darcey

Chairman

Appointed Chairman in February 2023, Mike has over 25 years of experience in the technology, media and telecommunications industry with numerous positions held ranging from CEO of News International to COO of British Sky Broadcasting Group. He has also provided strategic advisory services to a range of clients in the media industry. 

Mike has served or is currently serving on boards including Dennis Publishing (UK) Ltd (Chairman), M247 (Chairman), Home Retail Group (Senior Independent Director) and Sky New Zealand (Director). He is also Chairman of British Gymnastics and Senior Expert Advisor to MTM Consulting.

He holds an MSc Economics from the London School of Economics.

Shuja Khan

Chief Executive Officer

Shuja was appointed as Arqiva’s Chief Executive Officer in June 2022. 

Prior to this, as Arqiva’s Chief Commercial Officer from January 2020, he was responsible for all our revenue generating activities. His remit also included strategy, product development, regulatory affairs and customer experience. He was at the heart of the creation of Vision 2031 – Arqiva’s vision and 10-year strategic plan – as well as the development of Arqiva’s purpose.  

He draws on more than 20 years of leadership experience in the technology, media and communications sector, including the Chief Commercial Office across 24 territories at Cable & Wireless and various leadership roles at both Virgin Media and Liberty Global Europe focusing on driving growth.  

Shuja initially qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte before moving into management consultancy advising a cross section of media and telecoms clients including the BBC on strategy and operational transformation. 

Responsible for achieving our strategic and financial goals, Shuja is passionate about ensuring Arqiva focuses on long-term sustainability. With a strong and inclusive leadership style, Shuja is spearheading our cultural transformation to ensure that we are best possible partners to our customers; simplifying our business; and making Arqiva an inclusive and great place to be for our people.

Shuja is married with two children. He grew up in Saudi Arabia before moving to the UK where he currently lives in London. He is of Pakistani background and is fluent in Urdu. He is an advisor and investor in early-stage businesses as well as social ventures and is a supporter of his local community.

Sean West

Chief Financial Officer

Sean has been Arqiva’s Chief Financial Officer since September 2019. He joined in 2015 as Director of Treasury and Corporate Finance. He is responsible for all aspects of Arqiva’s financial performance, and is enthusiastic about driving the business forward to create real value for all of Arqiva’s stakeholders.

Before Arqiva, Sean held senior corporate finance and treasury positions at the Immediate Capital Group (ICG) and LandSec, and with a background in all areas of corporate finance and financing, he brings a wealth of experience across a range of industries and financial markets.

Paul Donovan

Non-executive Director

Paul Donovan served as a non-executive director at Arqiva from 2018 to 2020. He returned to the board in July 2022 as a Macquarie appointee, following two years as Arqiva’s Chief Executive Officer where he oversaw development of a new purpose, strategy, long-term plan and operating model. 

He brings over 20 years’ experience in senior  roles across the technology, media and communications sectors. Between 2014 and 2016 as CEO he led the transformation of Europe’s leading cinema operator, Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group, ahead of its sale to AMC Theatres. Before Odeon, Paul was CEO of Irish telecoms group eir, and  has also held senior roles at significant global organisations, notably Vodafone, where as a member of the Executive Committee he led the company’s emerging markets businesses.

Philanthropy plays an important role in Paul’s life. He served as senior advisor to renowned philanthropist Sir Christopher Hohn from 2017-18, and as  a Trustee of the Oxford Community Foundation from 2018-2021. He is a founder of two private charitable funds; Our Common Good UK, a social impact accelerator, and the Daymark Fund, which provides educational opportunities for talented but underprivileged children in the UK and Africa.

Max Fieguth

Non-executive Director

Max is a Director at IFM Investors and has been on the Arqiva board since late 2017. He also works closely with several other IFM portfolio companies including Manchester Airports Group and Aqualia.

At IFM, Max leads a team of Asset Management professionals responsible for implementing value creation opportunities across the IFM infrastructure portfolio, delivering global best practice initiatives and supporting the execution of infrastructure transactions.

Prior to joining IFM in 2016, Max worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and on the Crossrail project with Bechtel. He holds degrees from Imperial College London and INSEAD and is a chartered engineer & member of the IMechE.

Susana Leith-Smith

Non-Executive Director

Susana is a Senior Managing Director in Macquarie Asset Management’s (MAM) Real Assets business in EMEA. 

Susana has a wealth of experience in capital markets. Prior to joining MAM, Susana was at Barclays, most recently as the EME Head of Leveraged Finance and managing all transactions in the Telecoms, Media and Tech sectors.

Susana holds a Masters Degree in Modern History and International Relations from the University of St Andrews.

Scott Longhurst

Non-executive Director

Appointed to the board in February 2023, Scott has over 25 years of experience in Infrastructure and Utility businesses. He was formerly Group Finance Director of Anglian Water Group (AWG) and Managing Director of its non-regulated business until 2019.

Prior to AWG, he was Chief Accounting Officer of TXU Corporation and CFO of its regulated electric and gas businesses. Scott also held a number of financial and commercial roles with Shell encompassing corporate, operating company and joint venture activities across Europe, the Far East and Middle East.

He is currently also on the boards of FCC Aqualia S.A., EVOS BV (Audit Chair), Infinis Energy Management Limited (Audit Chair), and a Senior Adviser to Igneo Infrastructure Partners.

Scott is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and a founding member of the Accounting for Sustainability CFO Leadership Network.

Matthew Postgate

Non-executive Director

Matthew is Digital and Technology orientated leader with extensive experience in new digital businesses and with the digital transformation of existing organisations. He is a Non-Executive director of UK Strategic Command within the Ministry of Defence and with a media technology Scale-Up. He also provides selective advisory services supporting technology enabled businesses and digital transformation.

He has over 20 years of experience managing the impact of digital technology along with general management expertise developed within large scale, complex organisations. His deep technical expertise provides a foundation for a rich understanding of the broader issues organisations need to tackle in order to unlock value from digital technologies.

Previously Matthew was the BBC’s Chief Technology and Product Officer, leading the BBC’s Design & Engineering division. The division had a global remit, developing the BBC’s digital strategy and wider transformation while maintaining the technology operations that keep the BBC on-air, online and reaching 500m people a month.

Prior to this role Matthew held various roles at the BBC including CTO and leading the Internet Operations function, Business Development Group and its Research & Development department. He started his career at the BBC in product management roles and was part of the leadership team that launched BBC iPlayer and was responsible for building the corporation’s world leading mobile services.  Before joining the BBC, Matthew worked as a consultant and start-up co-founder.

Matthew holds a BSc from Bristol University, is a graduate of the Stanford GSB Stanford Executive Programme, is a fellow of the IET and a member of the Raspberry Pi foundation. Matthew is married, has two children and lives in London.

Diego Massidda

Non-Executive Director

Diego is Head of Digital Infrastructure at Triple Point, the Investment Manager of Digital 9 Infrastructure, and joined the Arqiva board in November 2023.  Diego has more than 20 years’ international experience in Media and Telecommunications in various divisional/operating company CEO roles, including 16 years with Vodafone Group.

Diego is a Civil Engineer, holds an MBA from INSEAD, and at the beginning of his career he worked as a consulting civil engineer in South Africa and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Andy MacLeod

Non-Executive Director

Andy is now a professional Non- Executive Director and industry consultant after retiring from Vodafone Group as Regional Technology Director for the Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific Region. Prior to that he served for ten years as Vodafone's Group Chief Networks Officer and as the CTO of Verizon Wireless in the US.

Since the early 1990’s he has held a variety of CXO positions in major telecommunications industry companies and has gained extensive experience as a Director on the Boards of both public and private companies including Eircom, Indus Towers, Vodafone Australia, ECI, Idex, Gfinity and IQGeo.

Andy has an MA in Materials Science from Keble College, Oxford and an MBA from Warwick Business School and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is married with two adult children and lives in Winchester, UK.