Senior Management Shakeup at Ten

MELBOURNE: Hamish McLennan, the executive chairman and CEO of Australia's Ten, has stepped down, with the role now being split.

David Gordon, the non-executive director of Ten, has been appointed chairman, while Paul Anderson, the COO and CFO, becomes CEO.

Gordon has been a director of Ten since April 2010. He commented: “The board thanks Hamish for his contribution during what has been a challenging period in Ten’s history. He has led a strong and talented management team to effect a turnaround in the company’s performance.

“Hamish will work with myself and Paul Anderson on a seamless transition and he will continue to advise and assist the company until the end of the year.

“Ten is in an important and exciting phase, as we continue to build our revenue on the back of strong audience growth since mid-2014 and transition our sales activities to multichannel network (MCN); and maintain our clear focus on growth and efficiencies.”

Anderson has been CFO since March 2011, having held various senior finance roles at the company since he joined in 2003. He become COO in April 2014. 

McLennan said: “The strategic arrangements announced on June 15, including the proposed investment by Foxtel in Ten and the transformative agreement with MCN, mean that my role is complete.

“An independent chairman is needed to lead the board through the next phase of the company’s development. David Gordon has been an exceptional director and his contribution has always been of the highest standard. He will represent all shareholders very well.”

Gordon said: “The board was delighted to have such a strong internal candidate as Paul and we were unanimous in appointing him as chief executive officer. He is a 12-year veteran at Ten, well-respected internally and externally, and is the ideal person to lead the Ten team.”

McLennan added: “Paul has been a great partner to myself in the dual role of COO and CFO of the company and has been an integral member of our leadership team. I have greatly valued his help and support in developing the plans for the significant resurgence Ten is now experiencing.”

Anderson said: “I’m extremely honored to be offered this opportunity by the board and I look forward to continuing to work with the very talented team at Ten to build on the improvements we have seen over the past year or so and execute our strategy, which remains unchanged.

“Ten has ratings and revenue momentum, as demonstrated by the 15 percent audience growth our primary channel achieved in the first half of the 2015 ratings year and the exceptionally strong revenue growth we have seen in recent months.

“At the same time, the transition to MCN is progressing smoothly and has been very well received by the market.”