The Director-General is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position is appointed by Board of governors of the BBC.
- Sir John Reith (1927-1938)
- Sir Frederick Ogilvie (1938-1942)
- Sir Cecil Graves (joint Director-General with Robert Foot 1942-1943)
- Robert W Foot (1942-1944)
- Sir William Haley (1944-1952)
- Sir Ian Jacob (1952-1959)
- Sir Hugh Greene (1960-1969)
- Sir Charles Curran (1969-1977)
- Sir Ian Trethowan 1977-1982)
- Alasdair Milne 1982-1987)
- Sir Michael Checkland 1987-1992)
- Sir John Birt (1992-2000)
- Greg Dyke (2000-)