A new appointment
SenateSHJ has announced Jane Ratcliffe as partner and head of public sector practice in New Zealand.
Ratcliffe moves into the role from a year as general manager of channels and digital resources at the Tertiary Education Commission. She has also held a senior leadership position at Careers New Zealand.
SenateSHJ’s Wellington general manager Raphael Hilbron says Ratcliffe’s appointment strengthens SenateSHJ’s public sector practice and deepens the team’s expertise in providing senior counsel to public sector clients.
“It’s been a busy first half of 2018, with strong demand for reputation management and digital communication skills, which Jane brings a great deal of to the business.
“Jane is a highly experienced and successful communications professional with a strong background in building and leading high performing teams and projects.”
Ratcliffe says pleased to join such an experienced team.
“It’s also important to me that I work for an organisation who live and breathe their values and that’s certainly the case at SenateSHJ.”
Ratcliffe has more than 20 years of experience delivering communication programmes, including launching digital products and services to market for private and public sector clients.
A resignation
Earlier this week Newsroom reported that Tom Cotter has resigned from his role as chief information and product officer at MediaWorks.
Cotter joined the company in 2014 after 15 years of experience developing the delivery of digital strategies to organisations undergoing transformation. Prior to his MediaWorks role, Cotter spent time at large corporate including Spark and PlayStation before working as general manager of digital media at TVNZ for seven years.
During his time at MediaWorks, Cotter was responsible for a major rebuild of MediaWorks digital platforms including 3Now and the Newshub app.
Newsroom reports Cotter intends to take time out before seeking another job.
Checkpoint appointment
Investigative journalist Lisa Owen is join RNZ’s Checkpoint programme as the drive-time news and current affairs presenter, replacing John Campbell who is moving to TVNZ next month.
Owen began her career in radio before moving to TVNZ where she hosted Agenda and spent time as the One News Europe correspondent. More recently she has presented NewsHub Nation and co-hosted RadioLive’s Drive programme.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson says Owen’s appointment fits with Checkpoints’ reputation of providing high-quality, engaging journalism.
“[Lisa] is an outstanding journalist and broadcaster and her appointment reflects RNZ’s commitment to high-quality, robust journalism.”
Checkpoint executive editor Pip Keane says she has admired Owen’s passion for journalism for a long time.
“The Checkpoint team is committed to breaking stories that really matter to New Zealanders and Lisa is not one to hold back. Her interviewing skills both in the studio and in the field will be a huge asset to the team and RNZ as a whole.”
Campbell hosted Checkpoint since 2015. Owen’s start date has yet to be announced.
