New name, more change: Seven bids farewell to another senior executive

It’s been a big year of change at Southern Cross Austereo, which finalised its merger with Seven West Media early this year, and has been at the centre of a near endless stream of executive comings-and-goings in the months since.

But it looks like the executive reshuffle still has a little more to give. Earlier this month, Southern Cross Australia’s chief transformation officer Toby Potter became the latest senior executive to head for the exit, following more than a decade at the company over two stints.

Head of audio John Kelly told Southern Cross staff in an email seen by CBD that Potter was “ready to look for his next step”. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.

Others to depart the merged Southern Cross-Seven West Media entity so far this year include Seven’s pre-merger chief executive and Kerry Stokes lieutenant Jeff Howard – now offering his services to another billionaire in Richard White – who was replaced in May by former NRMA boss Rohan Lund. Southern Cross chairman Heith Mackay Cruise left a couple months after Howard, and was succeeded by a longtime Stokes ally, Teresa Dyson.

The Dyson appointment wasn’t the only sign Stokes has been flexing his muscle behind the scenes at the company. The other, perhaps more revealing change, came just last week when the merged company – which has traded as Southern Cross all year – announced at an annual advertiser event that it had officially rebranded as “Seven Media Group”.

The company wheeled out a gaggle of talent to try and seduce advertisers. Australian musician Amy Shark was there, as was Marcia Hines, given the pair’s work on Australian Idol. Sunrise co-hosts Matt Shirvington and Natalie Barr were also in attendance, we’re told, along with 7NEWS host Michael Usher and a gaggle of faces from Home and Away and My Kitchen Rules.

The rebranded Seven Media Group will take the advertiser roadshow to Melbourne later this week. As the clock winds down on this year, though, our guess is the chatter in media circles will be less focused on what’s happening on air than the ongoing change off it.

Thanks, no thanks

Wine has been at the centre of a number of NSW political scandals over the years. There was the infamous undeclared $3000 bottle of 1959 Penfolds Grange Hermitage that cost former Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell his job back in 2014.

More recently, Summer Hill MP Jo Haylen resigned as transport minister in February last year on the heels of a scandal triggered by her taxpayer-funded driver use. That one, regular readers may recall, involved an Australia Day weekend lunch at a Hunter Valley winery.

So imagine our surprise to see NSW Premier Chris Minns’ recent pecuniary interests disclosures still dotted with wine-adjacent gifts. (And that’s before we even get to the fact that the premier hasn’t had a drink in years.)

Among the more amusing donors on the register was News24, which caught our eye because the network was among those that covered his sobriety as far back as 2023. In that case, the bottle of wine was surrendered to the state, which we’re told has become predictably common in the post-O’Farrell years.

We asked what kind of wine the premier received from News Corp’s pay TV network – grange as well, perhaps? – but didn’t hear back by deadline.

News24 wasn’t alone, though. Minns was also gifted a bottle of wine – and some sweets – from the Maronite Catholic Eparchy, according to the disclosures. In that case, only the wine was handed over to the state.

Winning jnr sets sail

It would seem that Sydney’s wealthy Winning family scion, John Winning jnr, is finally free to cast off into the sunset and put the bother of his family’s ritzy family whitegoods business behind him.

The departure of Winning jnr from the Winning Appliances board of directors, revealed in fresh documents filed with the corporate regulator late last week, only really formalises what has been expected for the last couple of months.

That is, following the arrival of former Super Retail boss Anthony Heraghty as the company’s new chief executive, Winning jnr would get a little more time to spend on his beloved sailing.

In August this year, The Australian Financial Review revealed the Winning family, whose wealth was valued at $860 million by the newspaper’s Rich List, had already spent more than $55 million on a bid to snare the America’s Cup, one of the biggest prizes in sailing.

Winning Jnr has already triumphed in the Sydney to Hobart. No doubt he’ll be pleased to have one thing less to distract him between now and when the America’s Cup begins off the coast of Naples next July.

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