Fairfax appoints digital sales boss Ed Harrison as new metro commercial director

Fairfax Media has continued its wholesale restructuring with another senior player from the company’s former standalone digital operation promoted to a leadership role within the company’s new metro division.

Ed Harrison has been named as commercial director of the metro division after having held the same role at Fairfax Digital. The boss of Fairfax Digital Jack Matthews was appointed CEO of the metro division – which includes the print and online editions of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age – in February.

Harrison’s appointment by Matthews means that the two most senior commercial people in Fairfax’s metro division have no previous experience of working in the newspaper industry.  

Matthews came up through the techology and TV industry including a stint as CEO of Showtime. Harrison began his carer with four years as a sales exec at Britain’s biggest magazine publisher IPC before spending three years with TDI Advertising and seven years with outdoor company JC Decaux prior to joining Fairfax Digital.