Cam Wallace Named New Head of MediaWorks

Former Air New Zealand Chief Revenue Officer Cam Wallace has been appointed as the new CEO of MediaWorks.

Wallace had been silent on the suggestion, but his business experience with the airline and the breadth of knowledge and contacts throughout the New Zealand business community made him a strong candidate to replace Michael Anderson, who will leave at the end of the year.

MediaWorks briefed staff on the new appointment today, Business Insider learned ahead of an announcement this afternoon.

MediaWorks had also announced that it was getting into the digital travel booking game, which was part of Wallace’s broad portfolio at Air New Zealand.

He was with the airline for 19 years before the separation was announced in early September. He was instrumental in driving Air NZ’s expansion over the past decade, developing new sources of revenue and working closely with partner airline alliances to expand its global reach.

When his departure was announced on Sept. 30, the airline said it would continue to “provide consulting support” to CEO Greg Foran through the end of the year.

“His experience in global revenue generation and deep customer centricity have been critical to our efforts to ensure our airline has a viable future,” Foran said.

Wallace would have been hired quickly by another airline under normal circumstances and even in the altered Covid-19 state, aviation would be attractive to other airlines, but he has strong family ties to this country. Any job abroad would be complicated; in many places, workers are unable to enter the office.

The outgoing Wallace is a media and political junkie, prominent on Twitter, where he has appealed to the local media industry for support in the past.

He was also the face of Air New Zealand’s rearguard action this year to try to quell public fury over refunds and credits for passengers.

In your new role, you will have to deal with a few fewer zeros than you were used to at Air NZ before Covid arrived.

MediaWorks’ Outdoor Business QMS showed that the Outdoor Business generates overall revenue of $ 28.2 million and underlying EBITDA of $ 5.8 million in its 2019 Annual Report.

Revenue from the radio sector of the business was $ 153.8 million for the period ended December 31, 2018.

The MediaWorks business is currently going through a significant transition period, with the sale of the TV division to Discovery.

It’s also unclear how severe the impact of Covid-19 has been on the business, although it is understood that the wage subsidy and an increase in advertising revenue in recent months have helped keep things reasonably stable.

However, MediaWorks cut 130 jobs in its radio and outdoor business earlier this year.

“MediaWorks must have a different way to operate in a different world,” Anderson said in announcing the cuts.