She is the Chancellor of Edge Hill University, and chairs the Barclays FA Women's Super League and Championship board, the National Youth Theatre and the educational platform Digital Theatre+.
She is best known for her tenure between 1996 and 2002 at Channel 5, as the inaugural Director of Programmes, and subsequently Chief Executive, and has held senior positions at ITV plc, Sky UK, Yahoo!
In 1994, she was appointed Controller of Arts and Entertainment at Channel 4,[2] where it was reported [3] that her forthright manner had earned her the soubriquets "Scary Airey" and "Zulu Dawn" and her commitment to popularism was deemed by one colleague as "vulgar".
[2] In 2002, amid rumours that ITV plc was reportedly pursuing her to become its chief executive.,[2] Airey surprised the television industry by instead accepting a position at the satellite broadcaster, BSkyB.
Airey departed BSkyB to head up an independent production business backed by private investors however she was only with the company for a total of eight days before it was announced that the venture did not have sufficient cash to continue trading.
RTL's decision to exit UK broadcasting and sell the company to Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell saw her elevated to the role of President of RTL-owned CLT-UFA.,[8][9][10] where she served between 2010 and 2013.
[15][16] Airey was chief executive officer (CEO) of Getty Images photo agency from October 2015 [17][18] to 31 December 2018, at which time she became a non-executive director member of its board.
The review called for the creation of an independent regulator for the game, alongside greater powers for supporters and an improved "owners and director's test" for those seeking to control local clubs.