Heith Mackay-Cruise (pictured) will step down as Chairman and retire as Director of Southern Cross Media Group (SCA) on June 30, 2026. Teresa Dyson, a Non-Executive Director of the group currently, has been elected to become the Independent Non-Executive Chairwoman from July 1.
With Ido Leffler also retiring on June 30, SCA has commenced a search process to appoint additional Independent Non-Executive Directors to the Board.
Mackay-Cruise said:
“After almost six years on the Board and more than two years as Chairman of Southern Cross Media Group, I am proud to have overseen the restructuring of the Company, combining with Seven West Media to create the largest commercial media platform that services all of Australia.
With the appointment of Rohan Lund as our new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, I believe SCA is well-positioned for the future, and it is the right time for me to move on to other challenges.”
Dyson has served on the Seven West Media Board for over eight years before transitioning to the SCA Board earlier this year.
She said:
“The Board wishes to gratefully acknowledge Heith’s significant contribution as a Director over the past six years, and particularly in recent years as Chairman, in building SCA’s nation-wide reach and accelerating the integration of our television, audio, digital and publishing assets.
I am looking forward to working closely with Heith, Rohan and my fellow Directors over the upcoming
transition period and as we continue to drive our performance, deliver the full value and synergies of
our operations and diverse content platforms, and carefully manage succession on the Board.”
In an internal email seen by Radioinfo, new Managing Director and CEO Rohan Lund said of the transition and changes:
“My goal is simple: I want to reignite that spark (the same spark that led us all to media in the first place!). I want to remind you why we do what we do, which has never been more important. What we do is humbling. We set the agenda for conversations at the breakfast table, in the car on the way to work, the cheeky banter with friends about our sports team on the weekend. We inform, we entertain, we inspire Australians every day – this is our North Star. What we do won’t change but how we do it will look different in the future and we need to design that together.
I want to pay special tribute to Heith Mackay-Cruise who has decided he will step down as Chair now that the merger is complete. Heith will finish on 30 June and will be succeeded by Teresa Dyson who is an existing member of the Board and will assume the position of Chair elect. Heith leaves with our gratitude for his stewardship of SCA for the last six years and for his work bringing these two great companies together.
Let’s work together to build something extraordinary.“
Predating the announcement of Mackay-Cruise stepping down, SCA also said that on May 1 it had received notices under section 203D of the Corporations Act from Sandon Capital Pty Ltd, stating their intention to move resolutions at the next general meeting to remove Mackay-Cruise, Leffler, and Marina Go as Directors of the Company.
This is the second attempt by the Australian based activist investment firm to cause a spill, after the first was not carried last November. Now Mackay-Cruise and Leffler will depart at the end of the financial year anyway.
However the resolutions will be put to the next general meeting held by SCA which is currently expected to be Annual General Meeting which will be held before November 30, 2026. Marina Go will be due to stand for re-election at that AGM by rotation and SCA has not received any notice requiring it to call a general meeting before then to consider such resolutions.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster.