AFTRS council chair Russel Howcroft has been re-appointed for a second three-year term, commencing July 1.
Howcroft has extensive experience in the screen industry and just this week was revealed as the new co-host of 3AW’s #1 Melbourne breakfast show, Ross and Russ. He is the former executive general manager of Network 10 and has served on a number of boards and foundations which focus on arts and film, including the Australian Film Institute and the Screen Forever Advisory Board.
In 2016, Howcroft was the founding chair of Think TV, a collaborative initiative between Australian free-to-air and subscription television broadcasters to promote television’s scale and effectiveness for advertisers across all screens.
Howcroft was also the inaugural chief creative officer at PwC Australia. He has also served as the chairman of the Advertising Federation of Australia and chief executive officer of advertising agency George Patterson Y&R and been a regular panellist on ABC TV’s Gruen.
Joining the AFTRS council from July 1 is Chris Oliver-Taylor, Fremantle CEO Asia-Pacific.
Chris Oliver-Taylor
“We are delighted to have the brilliant Chris Oliver-Taylor join the council. He brings incredible energy and enthusiasm – and he’s going to make a really significant contribution to council and the school,” Howcroft said.
Oliver-Taylor was previously managing director of Matchbox Pictures from 2011-2018. During his tenure at Matchbox Pictures, the company commissioned The Real Housewives franchise for Foxtel, 7 Types of Ambiguity and Barracuda for the ABC, and Safe Harbour and Date My Race for SBS. Matchbox won 20 AACTA Awards, an International Emmy, nine Logies and nine Screen Producers of Australia Awards with Oliver-Taylor at the helm. Prior to joining Matchbox, he was the ABC’s head of production, with overall responsibility for the production and delivery of the entire ABC TV slate as well as the financial management, business affairs, scheduling and broadcast operations of ABC TV.
Oliver-Taylor currently sits on the boards of Film Victoria, MediaRing and the Fremantle global board.