Fairfax renames NZ business to Stuff and appoints Sinead Boucher as CEO
Fairfax Media’s New Zealand operations will be consolidated under the Stuff website brand with Sinead Boucher as chief executive officer, the company announced today.
The combined portfolio will consist of the company’s NZ stable of newspapers, websites and events, along with private social network Neighbourly and internet service provider Stuff Fibre. The restructure follows the New Zealand Competition Commission rejecting Fairfax’s merger proposals in May.
Sinead Boucher, CEO of Fairfax’s NZ Stuff operations
“The renaming recognises Stuff’s tremendous national brand strength and its position at the centre of our strategy to drive digital growth in New Zealand,” said Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood in a media statement. “Our long-established print and digital mastheads continue with their existing names, with the Stuff brand to collectively identify our diverse mix of media assets in New Zealand, reaching 90% of the population.”
Boucher was previously Fairfax’s New Zealand group executive editor, having been promoted from group digital editor where she led the development of the Stuff website.
“Sinead has established herself as an impressive force in modern media. She steps into the CEO role having had a long and distinguished career in traditional and digital media,” said Hywood. “She has been a driving force in lifting the digital skills, capability and focus of our newsrooms, as well as turbocharging digital, which is going from strength to strength.”
Boucher joined Fairfax’s Christchurch masthead The Press in 1993 then moved to the United Kingdom to work at the Financial Times and Reuters before returning to The Press as associate editor in 2004. “I feel privileged and proud to have the chance to lead a company with such a strong connection to New Zealanders and the communities we live and work in,” she said.
“We have a unique opportunity with Stuff to develop that position and grow our business. New ventures like Neighbourly and Stuff Fibre give us a new way to fund the important local journalism that New Zealanders look to us for every day. I look forward to getting started.”
