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Movings|Shakings: 13 November

A reunion

RNZ has appointed respected senior journalists Pip Keane (executive editor) and Catherine Wallbridge (deputy editor) to lead the Auckland-based production team for the upcoming multimedia programme, Checkpoint with John Campbell.

Starting on 18 January next year, the new show will feature 90 minutes of news and current affairs programming broadcast simultaneously on radio and via live stream. 

Given Keane (pictured here) previously executive produced Campbell Live, her appointment to the new role sets up a reunion for at least part of the Campbell Live gang.  

Keane has worked as an executive producer for the past 15 years on radio and television. She headed the production teams for the Paul Holmes show at TVNZ, Sky and Prime and produced the Marcus Lush Breakfast programme at Radio Live.

Walbridge was previously the executive producer of RNZ’s Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan for more than four years. She has worked in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand as an editor, business journalist and producer at Reuters, the South China Morning Post and most recently at TV3’s The Nation.

“To have two such high calibre producers bringing their skills to the new Checkpoint is a huge boost for the programme and RNZ,” said head of content Carol Hirschfeld.

Both take up their new positions in mid-December. Several other production roles on the programme are still under consideration.

Taking the reins

John Baker has been appointed CEO of Tangible Media, assuming leadership across both the media and content marketing business as well as taking charge of ICG’s video production business On Digital.

“This shift recognises the growing importance of Tangible’s content marketing business and a desire to offer clients and agencies an end-to-end offering in the content space across all mediums,” Baker says.

In this new capacity, Baker will be working closely alongside Tangible’s business media publisher Vincent Heeringa on expanding Tangible’s content marketing business. 

Prior to taking on the newly created CEO role, Baker was a longtime member of the Tangible team, serving as the director of content marketing between 2011 and 2015 as well as the publisher of consumer media between 2008 and 2015. 

Before that, Baker was a director at Jones Publishing for five years, before the business was acquired by Image Centre Group. 

In recognition of his successful career in publishing, Baker has served as a board member at the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) and also chaired the organisation before Bauer chief executive Paul Dykzeul took over in 2014.   

Climbing the ranks

Katrina Horton has been promoted to the head of media at Ogilvy & Mather only nine months after originally joining the agency as a media director.

“I am very excited to be working with such a great team in this role,” says Horton. “The opportunity to work with so many incredible brands is another big plus.”

Horton has accumulated over 20 years’ experience over a career, which has included stints at major agencies and media companies both local and in the UK.

TVNZ, Carat, DDB and the MPA are just some of the organisations that have employed Horton over the years. 

She joined Ogilvy at the beginning of this year, after completing a short contract as the commercial brand manager at Next magazine, prior to which she spent two years as the commercial director at the MPA.

A seat for the Dame

ASB has announced the appointment of Therese Walsh as a director on its board.

(Image credit: 3News)

Walsh, a chartered accountant by trade, began her career in finance and audit and was audit manager for KPMG Wellington before becoming the chief financial officer for the NZ Rugby Union and then moving into leadership roles in the global events industry. 

She was most recently head of New Zealand for Cricket World Cup 2015 Limited and was previously the chief operating officer for Rugby NZ 2011 Limited.

Walsh is a current director of NZX, deputy chair of TVNZ, and a trustee of Wellington Stadium. She also sits on a number of government advisory panels including chairing the International Aid Selection Panel.

ASB chairman Gavin Walker said in a release that Walsh is a highly respected executive with broad management and governance skills in the private and public sectors.

“We are delighted to welcome Dame Therese to the board,” Walker said. “She brings a range of expertise in leading large, complex organizations and projects that will benefit the board and ASB more broadly.”

Walsh joins managing director Barbara Chapman, chairman Gavin Walker, Simon Blair, Michael Coomer, Jane Freeman, Jon Hartley, Catherine McDowell, Michael Spaans, David Cohen and Vittoria Shortt on the ASB board.

Reeled in

Chae Blewitt has joined boutique production company Reel Factory as commercial manager.

This move sees Blewitt moving on from MediaWorks, where he worked for two and half years, first as a digital account manager and later as digital sales manager. 

Prior to working at MediaWorks, Blewitt worked at Bauer as a digital sales executive.

MediaWorks has confirmed that senior digital account manager Katrina Newton has taken over Blewitt’s responsibilities. 

It’s political

After two years on the job, Google’s global communications and public affairs manager for Australia and New Zealand Andrew Ure has taken up a regional policy role with the tech juggernaut, which will see him relocate to Hong Kong.

The focus on public policy is familiar ground for Ure, who earlier in his career spent four years as a diplomat at the Australian Embassy of Tehran in Iran.

In 2008, upon his return to Australia, Ure again took up a government role as director at the Department of Climate Change, serving as a senior negotiator for the Australian government in the UN and the World Bank across a range of climate change issues.

Thereafter, he worked as the managing director of OgilvyEarth, before joining Google in 2013.   

He is set to start his new role on 16 November.   

Too cool for Sky

Lightbox has announced the appointment of its new head of product, Andy McCool, who joins from Sky Network Television.

According to a release, McCool will be responsible for defining the roadmap, features and technical assets for Lightbox to make it the best online streaming product in New Zealand.

Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock says: “We are honoured to have Andy join the team as our new Head of Product. The role requires a certain skill-set to deliver a world class product using business acumen, technical expertise and understanding the customer experience all at once. Lightbox is entering its second year as key player in the market and we’re excited that Andy will be joining us on this journey.” 

McCool has specialised in product development and innovation throughout his career having worked at Sky Network Television for the past four years as a senior product manager. Previous experience includes Mighty River Power as a business development manager and Sky in the United Kingdom as a business analyst and operations manager. 

McCool says he’s looking forward to joining the Lightbox team and continuing to help it grow into a stand out digital business. 

New talent

AUT Bachelor of Communication and Bachelor of Business Studies graduate Tessa Williams has been named as the 2015 recipient of the Porter Novelli Joseph Peart Scholarship.

 

Now in its third year, the scholarship recognises the outstanding contribution Joseph Peart made to the field of public relations in New Zealand over many decades.
 
Porter Novelli’s managing director Strahan Wallis said the team is proud to be able to honour Joseph’s memory and his contribution to the PR industry in New Zealand by recognising PR’s emerging best and brightest.  
 
“We’re thrilled to award this year’s Joseph Peart Scholarship to Tessa,” Wallis says. “She was up against a strong group of candidates. Tessa impressed us with her knowledge, enthusiasm and her passion. She upholds the Porter Novelli values and we’re looking forward to kick-starting her career in PR.”
 
The scholarship’s previous two recipients, Kaya Arai and Lauren Mitchell, remain part of the Porter Novelli team as an account manager and account executive respectively.
 
“We’re stoked that our previous scholars Kaya and Lauren are both an integral part of our growing agency and have worked on some of New Zealand’s leading PR campaigns,” says Wallis. “All three scholars are certainly helping us in our goal to have an unfair share of the best talent.”
 
The scholarship is a fully paid six-week internship at Porter Novelli and a $1,500 contribution to further Tessa’s training and development over the next 12 months. It starts immediately.

TV bound

Nielsen research analyst Serafina Widyanti has resigned from her position to take up a new role at TVNZ. 

Widyanti has been with Nielsen for over four years, joining the company in 2011 after serving as a teaching assistant at the University of Auckland. 

Her responsibilities are set to be picked up by Loida Delgado-Perez, who joined Nielsen as a research analyst in August 2015 after working in the UK for over six years.    

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