As the Antoinette Lattouf trial gears up for its second week in the courts, the ABC has seen another executive movement, with Georgie Somerset announced by the government as the organisation’s new deputy chair.
Somerset was announced by the minister for communications late last week as the interim replacement for outgoing deputy chair Peter Tonagh, whose resignation was announced on Christmas Eve last year by chair Kim Williams.
Somerset, a grazier and farmer who has served on the ABC board since 2017, will serve as deputy chair for a period of six months while the ABC’s independent nominations board begins a search for a permanent replacement for Tonagh.
It adds to the significant movement in the upper management level of the ABC of late — so in case you missed it, here’s a reminder of the executives of note at the ABC that are in and out.
Chris Oliver-Taylor
Oliver-Taylor is the most topical of the executives in this roundup, with the former Netflix executive and now outgoing chief content officer appearing on the stand in Federal Court last Friday as part of former ABC presenter Antoinette Lattouf’s unfair dismissal trial.
ABC staff incensed over the Lattouf saga voted for Oliver-Taylor to resign as early as March 2024 last year, but an executive restructure at the ABC in October reduced the scope of his role as chief content officer, taking audio and radio content and placing it under the purview of former Nova executive Ben Latimer.
Oliver-Taylor will leave the national broadcaster after less than two years in the role after announcing his resignation in late January 2025.
Steve Ahern
Steve Ahern is also deeply embroiled in the Lattouf saga, having been responsible for hiring her to the national broadcaster for the casual shift on ABC Sydney Mornings in late December 2023. Ahern later told the Federal Court Lattouf had been identified several years prior by the ABC as a “potential future presenter for ABC Radio” under its diversity policy.
Ahern resigned as the manager of ABC Radio Sydney after 18 months in the role, heading back into a life of consultancy and media training. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 2009 for services to broadcasting.
David Anderson
David Anderson, former managing director (and de facto editor in chief) of the ABC, announced his intention to resign from his position leading the national broadcaster in August 2024, only one year into a renewed five-year term. Anderson was initially appointed in 2019 after being promoted from an acting capacity, and was reappointed in August 2023, but chose to step back, saying that he felt it was “the right moment for leadership renewal for the next stage of the ABC’s continued evolution”.
One of Anderson’s final major achievements at the ABC was the institution of the Janke review into racism among the ABC workforce, which uncovered “disturbing” findings of widespread racism at the national broadcaster.
Hugh Marks
Anderson will be replaced by former Nine CEO Hugh Marks, who was announced in December 2024 as his replacement and will begin his term on March 10. Marks formerly served as CEO of Nine from 2015 to 2021, which included the 2018 merger with Fairfax. He negotiated broadcast deals that poached tennis rights from rival Seven, but also lost cricket rights to Seven after more than 40 years on Nine.
Marks resigned from Nine abruptly in 2020 following reporting on his consensual relationship with a staff member who reported to him.
Peter Tonagh
Peter Tonagh is the recently departed ABC deputy chair, having served on the board since 2021. He’s a former chief executive of Foxtel and lobbied to save the Australian Associated Press in 2020, as well as for federal funding in the 2024 budget to the newswire. Tonagh also led a 2018 review into efficiency at the ABC and SBS, which recommended the two public broadcasters merge their back-office operations. While a number of those recommendations were taken by the ABC, the merger was rejected.
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