Lauren Quaintance has been named the pay-TV broadcaster’s new chief media and data officer.
Sky TV says its executive team is now 50 per cent women following two new appointments.
Journalist-turned-content marketer Lauren Quaintance has been named the pay-TV broadcaster’s new chief media and data officer.
And Jennifer Sepull has been named Sky’s new chief technology officer.
Sepull’s CV includes a well-regardedtwo-year stint as Air New Zealand’s chief digital officer and chief information officer. She was also a member of the Technical Advisory Group to the London Stock Exchange. She arrives as Sky rolls out its new hardware following delays that cost the broadcaster at least $7m.
Former Herald feature writer Quaintance became the founding editor of the Sunday Star-Times’ glossy insert Sunday before being named editor of Metro, at age 31, in 2005.
She later crossed the Tasman for a series of senior roles at publisher Fairfax (now part of Nine). In 2013, she co-founded a digital content marketing firm, Storyation in 2013, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp in 2019. Quaintance returned to NZ last year, taking directorships with DPL Insurance, ChristchurchNZ and the Crusaders.
Both start toward the end of this month.
Sky’s executive team already includes two women: chief executive Sophie Moloney and chief corporate affairs officer Chris Major.
Quaintance’s role is newly-created, while Sepull fills a role that Major says has been vacant “for some time” and is not a direct replacement. (Sky’s erstwhile director of technology, Prabhu Singh, who sat outside the exec team, has become director of transformation, reporting to chief operating and people officer Anthony Welton).
“As we start to roll out our new Sky Box and Sky Pod to customers, we now look to the next phase of our tech transformation, including in the ad-tech space,” Moloney said.
Sky shares were recently trading at $2.40. The stock is down 11.2 per cent over the past 12 months.