After an ASX announcement this morning of the appointment of Alexis Poole as Chief Financial Officer, replacing Andrew Nye, ARN have hit their investors, staff and other interested parties with a bigger bombshell, the departure of their Chief Content Officer of 15 years, and the biggest champion of Kyle and Jackie O, Duncan Campbell. Campbell will transition to a “consulting and advisory role”.
Lauren Joyce, who is currently Chief Strategy & Connections Officer, will take on a newly created role of Chief Audience & Content Officer, effectively a reworded version of Campbell’s old one, bringing together the existing Content team with the Podcast, Marketing, Creative Production, and PR/Communications ones. Campbell will assist in the transition.
ARN’s CEO and Managing Director Ciaran Davis said:
“We are fortunate to have Duncan’s continued support as we build succession in this critical area. Over the past two years, Duncan has worked closely with Lauren on our audience growth strategy, focusing on adapting our brands and content to evolving audience expectations. With Lauren’s strategic vision and Duncan’s invaluable expertise, I’m confident we’ll continue to attract and retain engaged audiences while delivering world-class advertising solutions.”
Other changes to ARN’s Executive Leadership Team alongside the appointment of Poole include Angela Ewers, the Chief People Officer, expanding her responsibilities to include oversight of the Technology and Project Delivery teams alongside the People & Culture team. Michael Harvey will continues as Chief Regional Officer. Pete Whitehead, the Chief Commercial Officer will see his role superseded by the recently appointed Michael Stephenson. Additionally ARN will see Fayad Tohme depart as Chief Digital & Technology Officer.
Davis said of the changes:
“This transformation is the result of careful planning to position ARN for long-term success in the evolving audio industry. By streamlining processes, leveraging technology, and simplifying our structure, we’re ensuring ARN is agile and well-positioned to capitalise on emerging trends so that we can maintain our leadership in the audio entertainment industry.”
The new ARN operating model takes effect on February 1, 2025.
Campbell oversaw Kyle and Jackie O’s 10 year contract deal with ARN in November 2023 and the pair moving into Melbourne on KIIS 101.1. No deal of that nature, and cost, is ever done without some target expectations along the way. Those are now the responsibility of Joyce, and a big one in the current environment where the expansion has not yet gone according to plan.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.