Alan Rusbridger, Editor, the Guardian

Alan Rusbridger has been editor of the Guardian since 1995. A graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, he began his journalistic career on the Cambridge Evening News. He first joined the Guardian in 1979 as a reporter, subsequently working as a columnist and feature writer. In 1986 he became a critic for the Observer, moving to America the following year to be Washington correspondent of the London Daily News. On returning to the Guardian he launched Guardian Weekend magazine and G2-Britain's first compact sections in the quality market. He was appointed editor by the Scott Trust, which has owned the Guardian since 1936. His editorship has been notable for pioneering the development of the paper's digital edition, twice voted the best newspaper Web site in the world, as well as for launching the paper in the popular European "Berliner" format in 2005.

Rusbridger is also noted for fighting, and winning, a number of high-profile legal cases involving free speech issues and corruption in government. In his years as editor he has won Newspaper of the Year several times, as well as several awards as editor of the year. He is a visiting fellow of Nuffield College Oxford and a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, London. He is also Chair of the National Youth Orchestra. In his spare time he writes childrens' books and plays chamber music and golf.