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THE 21st Century Fox board has announced a series of senior management role changes, to take effect on July 1, which will effectively transition a succession process for company founder Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch, the company’s chairman and CEO, together with Lachlan Murdoch, currently co-chairman, will become executive co-chairmen. 

Chase Carey, the company’s deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer since 2009, will become the executive vice chairman and serve in that role through June 30, 2016.

James Murdoch, currently co-COO, will become chief executive officer.

In conjunction with these changes, the company’s corporate functions, and its global television and film operations will now jointly report to Lachlan and James Murdoch.

“It has always been our priority to ensure stable, long term leadership for the company, and these appointments achieve that goal,” Rupert Murdoch said. “Lachlan and James are each talented and accomplished executives and together, we, as shareholders and partners, will strive to take our company to new levels of growth and opportunity at a time of dynamic change in our industry.

“I can’t thank Chase Carey enough for his friendship, counsel and leadership over the past decades. He will be actively engaged in supporting Lachlan and James as they step in to their new roles.” 

Mr Carey said, “I am grateful to Rupert for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime and truly believe there isn’t a company out there that’s more exciting, with more growth potential, than 21st Century Fox. I look forward to continuing to work with Rupert to support Lachlan and James in their new positions.”

Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch, in a joint statement, said, “We are both humbled by the opportunity to lead, with our father and the talented team of executives at 21st Century Fox, this extraordinary company. We are grateful to Chase for being the leader and partner that he has been, and we are both delighted that his wisdom and sure handedness will continue to serve 21st Century Fox. We are also grateful to the board for providing us the opportunity to lead this great company. 

“Most importantly, we each look forward to working with the entire team of creators, executives, artists and all of our colleagues that make up our global businesses, to steer the company into the future, and to drive continued value for our shareholders.”

21st Century Fox lead director, Australian Rod Eddington, the former CEO of Cathay Pacific Airways, British Airways and Infrastructure Australia chairman, said, “The board has long been focused on succession and we’re fortunate to have two very talented executives in Lachlan and James to take this company into the future.

“Working in tandem with Rupert, we’re confident their partnership and stewardship will give this business real momentum for many years to come. We are also deeply grateful to Chase Carey for his many years of exceptional leadership and his agreement to continue his contributions through his new position.”

EXECUTIVE BIOGRAPHIES

LACHLAN MURDOCH

Lachlan Murdoch is currently co-chairman, a position he has held since March 2014. Effective July 1, 2015, Mr Murdoch, 43, will serve as executive co-chairman of 21st Century Fox.

Mr Murdoch has spent the past two decades building, operating and investing in many of the world’s most prominent television and publishing businesses, and also currently serves as co-chairman of News Corp, executive chairman of NOVA Entertainment and executive chairman of Illyria Pty Ltd. He is a director of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art and a trustee of the Commando Welfare Trust. Mr Murdoch previously served as non-executive chairman of Ten Network Holdings.

Prior to his current role, Mr Murdoch has served as co-chairman of 21st Century Fox beginning in March 2014 and has served the company as a member of the board of directors since 1996, as well as in a number of senior executive roles from 1994-2005.

From 2000-2005, Mr Murdoch served as deputy chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox (previously known as News Corporation), a role in which he was directly responsible for the company’s US television stations group and publishing assets.

As part of his duties as deputy chief operating officer, Mr Murdoch was vhairman of Fox Television Stations (FTS) and publisher of the New York Post, and also oversaw HarperCollins and the company’s lines of business in Australia, including REA, Australia’s leading online real estate business.

He led the company’s purchase of a controlling stake in REA, which began with an approximate $1 million cash investment and resulted in a corporate asset that is currently valued at more than $3 billion.

At FTS, Mr Murdoch oversaw the company’s 35 owned-and-operated television stations, where he raised the bar on local news coverage across the nation, increasing the total number of local news hours across the group to more than 850 per week.

At the New York Post, he overhauled the tabloid and grew its circulation by more than 40 percent. During his tenure, the Post became the nation’s fastest-growing newspaper and the seventh largest in the United States.

In 2005, Mr Murdoch founded Illyria Pty, a successful private investment company. In 2009, Illyria acquired 50 percent of DMG Radio, a network of radio stations, which later expanded to include pay television assets and was renamed NOVA Entertainment. After Mr Murdoch became its chairman in 2009, NOVA grew exponentially, nearly doubling in value during the first three years of his tenure, while its EBITDA rose more than threefold from $16m in 2009 to $52m in 2014. In 2012, Illyria purchased the remaining 50 percent and, under Mr Murdoch’s leadership, NOVA Entertainment became Australia’s leading network of FM stations.

Mr Murdoch holds a BA from Princeton University.

JAMES MURDOCH

James Murdoch is currently co-chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox, and will serve as the Company’s chief executive officer effective July 1, 2015.

Mr Murdoch, 42, has held a succession of leadership roles over his nearly two-decade career with the company, culminating in his appointment to CEO. Over that period, he has been a key driver of the company’s domestic and international expansion, having most recently served as co-chief operating officer, and previously as chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia, as well as chairman of BSkyB, Sky Deutschland, and Sky Italia, the businesses that now comprise the pan-European Sky group. His significant operational experience also includes tenures as CEO of both BSkyB and STAR, India’s number one entertainment broadcaster.

As 21st Century Fox’s co-chief operating officer, Mr Murdoch had a broad purview across the company’s global portfolio of businesses, and direct responsibility for its cable and broadcasting networks and properties, which reach more than 1.8 billion subscribers every day. From 2011 to 2014 he served as deputy chief operating officer and chairman and CEO, international, and prior to that, chairman and CEO, Europe and Asia since 2007.

Mr Murdoch has played an integral role in a number of strategic transactions, including the separation of the former News Corp into two distinct companies, the combination of the Endemol Shine Group joint venture, the acquisition of the YES Network, and, through the creation of Sky Deutschland and the combination of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia and BSkyB, the creation of the European entertainment leader Sky plc.

During his tenure as BSkyB’s CEOr (of which 21st Century Fox owns 39.1%) from 2003 to 2007, and its chairman from 2007 until 2012, the company experienced transformative growth, amassing more than 10 million subscribers, and created a full-service residential media and telecommunications company.

Mr Murdoch led 21st Century Fox’s partial acquisition of the former Premiere AG and from that the creation of Sky Deutschland, which was valued at €6.6 Billion upon its combination with BSkyB and Sky Italia in 2014. In addition, he led the restructuring of the company’s European and Asian businesses between 2008 and 2010, including the separation of its Asian satellite television group, STAR, into India and ex-India operations, and the sale of the company’s Russian and Eastern European media holdings.

Mr Murdoch became chairman and CEO of STAR in 2000 and led the company’s turnaround and by 2003, the company established itself as the premier content and broadcasting company in India, South Asia and Taiwan. Prior to joining STAR, Mr Murdoch held a variety of corporate roles at News Corporation between the time he joined the company in 1996 and 2000, primarily focused on digital businesses.

Before joining the company, Mr Murdoch co-founded and chaired Rawkus Entertainment, a seminal Hip Hop independent based in lower Manhattan.

Mr Murdoch serves as a board member of 21st Century Fox and Sky, and of News Corp. In addition, he is a non-executive director of Yankee Global Enterprises, Vice Media, and a member of the board of trustees of the Harvard Lampoon and the Ghetto Film School.

He and his wife Kathryn founded their family foundation, Quadrivium, in 2014. Quadrivium supports a variety of initiatives involving natural resources, science, civic life, childhood health, and equal opportunity.

About 21st Century Fox

21st Century Fox is claimed to be the world's premier portfolio of cable, broadcast, film, pay TV and satellite assets spanning six continents across the globe. Reaching more than 1.8 billion subscribers in approximately 50 local languages every day, 21st Century Fox is home to a global portfolio of cable and broadcasting networks and properties, including FOX, FX, FXX, FXM, FS1, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FOX Sports, Fox Sports Network, National Geographic Channels, STAR India, 28 local television stations in the U.S. and more than 300 channels that comprise Fox International Channels; film studio Twentieth Century Fox Film; and television production studios Twentieth Century Fox Television and a 50 percent ownership interest in Endemol Shine Group.

The company also holds a 39.1 percent ownership interest in Sky, Europe’s leading entertainment company, which serves 21 million customers across five countries.

www.21CF.com

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ENTERING the new Start-up category in this year’s Telstra Business Women’s Awards could offer amazing growth opportunities for women who’ve backed themselves to launch their own business, according to Ozganics founder Anni Brownjohn.

Ms Brownjohn, whose business is now on the brink of entering China, has urged other women to enter the Awards before they close on Monday, June 29.  

Explaining her business start-up philosophy, she said, “I feel like I’m an accidental business woman who never thought about the risk of failure. I always believed that if one door closed another would open.

“You just need faith in your own ability. We’re surrounded by mountains. The secret is picking which one to climb first.”

Ms Brownjohn, National 2013 Telstra Business Innovation Award winner, created The Right Food Group in 1999 because she struggled to find locally-produced products that were not laden with artificial flavours, colours and preservatives for her children and husband who had lactose, gluten and other intolerances.

The Murwillumbah-based business manufactures the Ozganics range of organic, gluten and dairy-free foods sold domestically and exported to 20 countries. Ms Brownjohn has just returned from China where she signed a deal to provide her simmer sauce range to a major supermarket chain in Qingdao.

While she says ‘’running a business is all about juggling,” Ms Brownjohn advised women starting out to “be flexible and accept change daily, grow your networks and find friends inside your industry. Making connections is something the Telstra Awards really helped me do.”

Now in their 21^st year, the 2015 Telstra Business Women’s Awards also include new categories of Entrepreneur and For Purpose and Social Enterprise, recognising that brilliant business women come from all sectors. 

Kate McKenzie, Telstra chief operations officer and Telstra Business Women’s Awards ambassador, said the introduction of the Start-up category in the 2015 Awards reflected the rise in women owning businesses in Australia, with more than half of all new small businesses started by women.

“I encourage eligible business women to enter the awards and enjoy the benefits and recognition that the program offers. Don’t let this brilliant opportunity pass you by,” Ms McKenzie said.  

The six categories of the 2015 Telstra Business Women’s Awards include:

Start Up (owns minimum 25 percent; business under three years old);

Entrepreneur (owns minimum 25 percent; business more than three years old);

For Purpose and Social Enterprise (includes not for profit and social ventures);

Government and Academia (government departments; educational institutions; statutory bodies);

Corporate and Private (employed by the organisation); and

Young Business Women (under 29 as at June 30, 2015).

Entries and nominations can be made at womensawards.com or by calling 1800 817 536 until midnight on June 29.

CommBank is a major pof the Telstra Business Women’s Awards that are open to business women in all states and territories.

www.telstra.com.au

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INNOVATIVE strawberry producer, Piñata Farms’ south Queensland strawberry farm manager, Jason Dipple, has won a Queensland Strawberry Growers' Association award for outstanding achievement.

Sunshine Coast-based Mr Dipple’s award for ‘outstanding achievement in on-farm management practices to improve fruit quality’ was presented at the industry's annual dinner and awards night at Twin Waters in May. He was among 10 Queensland strawberry industry achievers to be recognised. 

Mr Dipple has been employed at Piñata Farms' Wamuran strawberry farm for the past seven years. He oversees a 12-month production cycle from preparation to planting and picking. 

Mr Dipple’s win happened as Piñata’s traditional winter season launched, with picking at Wamuran underway. Piñata Farms has 32 hectares of strawberries under cultivation at Wamuran, producing fruit between May and September annually.

Piñata Farms managing director Gavin Scurr said the award acknowledged Mr Dipple's integral role in developing high-quality standards in strawberry production.

“Under Jason’s leadership, the strawberry farm consistently produces quality, flavoursome fruit synonymous with the Piñata brand,” Mr Scurr said.

Mr Dipple said he was thrilled to receive the award and paid tribute to Piñata’s strawberry team.

“Growing great strawberries is all about varietal choices, water management, nutrition, time of planting - and a lot of hard work from a great team,” Mr Dipple said.

Piñata Farms has grown strawberries at Wamuran since 2000. Last year, it harvested its first spring and summer crop at Stanthorpe in Queensland’s Granite Belt from September, heralding the start of year-round production.

Piñata strawberries are available under the Piñata brand at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, as well as selected independent retail outlets.

Piñata Farms is a Queensland family business with origins dating back to the 1960s in the state’s south-east. Founded by pineapple farmer Geoff Scurr at Wamuran, Piñata Farms is now operated by Geoff’s sons, Gavin and Stephen Scurr.

Piñata Farms is the largest pineapple producer in Australia, one of the largest strawberry producers and holds the breeding rights to grow specialty Honey Gold mangoes, produced in every mainland state except South Australia.

www.pinata.com.au

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FORMER public servant Tim Marney has been appointed chair of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) advisory board.

Mr Marney succeeds business leader John Langoulant, who became BCEC advisory board chair in 2013. Mr Marney served as Under Treasurer for Western Australia from 2005 until his recent appointment as the State’s Mental Health Commissioner in early 2014. 

In his role as Under Treasurer, Mr Marney gained an in-depth understanding of the economic environment in Western Australia. He also held responsibility for the State Government’s procurement agency, led the Government’s Economic Audit and subsequent reform of non-government service delivery.

BCEC director Alan Duncan welcomed Mr Marney’s appointment as “a strong signal of the centre’s progress and commitment to evidence-informed, rigorous and objective research on the most important economic and social issues facing WA”.

“BCEC’s research influences thinking, shapes policy, and above all, makes a genuine difference to the lives of West Australians. And there is no doubt that Tim’s background and experience will be a great asset,” Professor Duncan said.

Over the past year, BCEC has enhanced its reputation through the release of reports on regional economic policy, income and wealth, housing affordability, workforce and skills, and poverty and disadvantage.

Mr Marney said he welcomed the opportunity to work with Prof. Duncan and members of the BCEC advisory board to shape the centre’s research and engagement agenda, and to deliver strong value to the tate’s policy, business and not-for-profit sectors and the WA community.

“No other economic research organisation in WA is engaged in the kind of work the BCEC produces and there is a compelling need and a huge appetite for high quality, credible research that supports effective policy making,” Mr Marney said.

“I am keenly aware of the power of research to highlight issues of concern, and offer solutions, and I am looking forward to being part of the next phase of the centre’s growth and development.”

BCEC is an independent economic and social research organisation which was established in 2012 in partnership with Bankwest. The centre is located within the Curtin Business School.

www.curtin.edu.au

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