MELBOURNE: Australian Children\u2019s Television Foundation (ACTF) has appointed Helen Coonan, former minister for communications, information technology and the arts, to its board.<\/p>\n
Coonan has a background as a commercial lawyer, barrister and mediator in Australia and New York. She served as a senator for NSW from 1996 to 2011 and as deputy leader of the government in the Senate. After 15 years in Parliament, including 9 years on the front bench, Coonan stepped down to take on\u00a0commercial opportunities in the corporate sector.<\/p>\n
Coonan\u2019s current appointments include directorships of Crown Resorts, Snowy Hydro and Obesity Australia. She is the Chair of Supervised Investments Australia, a member of the JP Morgan advisory council and Aon Risk Services Australia, Board of Advice. Coonan is a consultant to Samsung and Qantium (data analysts). She is the Chair of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and the Crown Resorts Foundation. She also co-chairs GRACosway (a member of Clemenger Group) and serves as a consultant to the Allegis Group.<\/p>\n
Janet Holmes \u00e0 Court AC, chairman of the ACTF, said, \u201cOur industry is experiencing huge changes and the ACTF needs to develop new strategies in order to best meet the needs of Australian child audiences. Helen brings unique and unparalleled expertise in media and communications policy, with a background both in government and the private sector, and we are thrilled to have her join us at this exciting and challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coonan remarked: \u201cI got to know the ACTF when I was the minister for communications and the arts. They impressed me as a small but effective organization doing great work in supporting content made especially for Australian children, which is then exported all over the world. The ACTF is also very engaged in how the media is evolving and right back then they were floating the idea of a digital children\u2019s channel to serve the audience better. Now the audience is moving in all sorts of directions, but Australian children and their families still want access to great Australian content. I\u2019m looking forward to working with the team at the ACTF as we meet the challenges and opportunities that now face us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE: Australian Children\u2019s Television Foundation (ACTF) has appointed Helen Coonan, former minister for communications, information technology and the arts, to its board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":477,"featured_media":11407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[411,2120],"class_list":["post-11406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-australian-childrens-television-foundation","tag-helen-coonan","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n