Stephen Cole Speaker Profile

Former BBC and current Al-Jazeera news anchor and moderator

Stephen Cole is one of the world’s most recognizable and respected faces of international television journalism.

Over the past twenty years he has anchored live events for Sky News ( London) CNN International ( Atlanta) and BBC World ( London). He has anchored live coverage from elections held in Islamabad, Delhi, Moscow, Paris and Hong Kong. He anchored live coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

He has also covered nine conflicts ranging from the Falklands War to Bosnia and Kosovo, the two wars in the Gulf and “ 9-11 “. Five years ago Stephen came up with the idea for a television programme covering Information Technology.

The success of the style and format of Click Online is currently shared on BBC World by more than a hundred million viewers around the world and on BBC News 24, BBC1 and six major airlines. Stephen has taken the show to fifteen countries and hosted numerous prestigious IT events in Asia and South America. Most recently, in Mumbai and Tokyo. In the past two years Stephen has helped direct international news coverage in Asia and the Middle-East. He has taken a senior executive role in directing major events at elections and international news breaking stories.

Stephen’s corporate career began with the establishment of Cole Productions – a corporate communications company- five years ago. Since then he has specialized in Information Technology, Security and terrorism.

He recently merged with DIGITV to form a broadcast division.
He has worked closely with the World Customs Organisation, Interpol and the International Security Management Association.

He has also worked with many international brand names such as Honda and Philips and currently acts as broadcast consultant for Perspective Solutions- an IT security company.
He also delivered the keynote lectures on journalism and terrorism at the University of Colorado.
In 2005 Stephen also won a National Travel Writers Award for his work in Malaysia.
He has chaired and facilitated at the World Economic Forum at Davos for the past two years on subjects ranging from IT and Security to Medicine.

He is now a Media Fellow at the World Economic Forum. Stephen is a qualified PADI diver and Rugby Coach, a member of BAFTA and has a keen interest in films. For the last six years he has presented the annual Oscars programme live for BBC World and News 24.

Stephen is married to Anne-Marie Cole, a senior BBC Radio 4 Producer. They have two sons.