Ian Law, leaving the west for Packer's camp in the east
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CEO of WA Newspapers Holdings Ltd, Ian Law, is leaving the west’s biggest media organisation to join the Packer empire on the east coast as CEO of Australian Consolidated Press Limited (ACP Magazines), where it is understood he will report to PBL chief John Alexander. According to a WANH statement to the stock exchange, "The resignation of Mr Law, who joined the company in February 2002, will take effect in May 2006, or earlier by mutual agreement."Chairman of WANH, Warwick Kent, says, "Ian Law has made a very significant contribution to the success of the company and we are sorry to be losing him. We wish him every success in his new role."
An executive search consultant has been engaged to assist in finding a replacement for Law says Kent.
According to the stock exchange statement, Law’s decision to leave WANH after four years of service was "based on a range of factors including the opportunity to take on a new senior executive role with Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, and a desire to be closer to his family in Sydney."
Law joined WANH in February 2002, taking over from Denis Thompson. Prior to joining WANH, Law held a number of senior management positions with Rural Press Limited including general manager of Rural Press Victoria; general manager of agricultural publishing; general manager, special projects; and general manager and editor in chief of regional publishing for Rural Press Limited.
The stock exchange staement continues: "I have had strong ongoing support from the Board and senior management at West Australian Newspapers and I believe the company is well positioned to continue as one of Australia’s leading media companies and to benefit from the continued growth in the WA economy.
"The circulation and readership of The West Australian is strong, and our other newspapers and radio stations are doing well. We are also well advanced in the process of a complete upgrade of the company’s production capacity. This upgrade will add to the quality of our product and will deliver significant operational savings with the reduction of 220 FTE positions in the production area. We now have formal expressions of interest from staff for the redundancies being sought.
"We have also recently appointed a new Chief Executive Officer of the joint venture company The Hoyts Corporation and we believe the business will make a positive contribution to the earnings of WAN in 2005/06," Law says.
