The Australian and Prestige titles have unveiled a new leadership team to drive the next phase of audience and commercial growth, led by managing director and publisher Nicholas Gray and editor-in-chief Michelle Gunn.
Gray has made several key appointments to expand the division’s focus on audience engagement and digital subscription growth, digital storytelling, and increased global collaboration with The Wall Street Journal and The Times.
Gray said: “These roles are key to building on our relationships with commercial clients, growing subscription and marketing capabilities, and deepening our global connections to deliver the greatest impact for Australia’s largest media portfolio reaching and engaging with affluent and invested Australians.
“Our ambition is to craft first-class journalism for our audiences and subscribers and great business results for our clients.”
Sophie Raptis has been appointed general manager, commercial for The Australian and Prestige Titles. Raptis returns to the Australian market to join the business in this new role and will be responsible for driving revenue growth and partnerships across the portfolio.
Sophie Raptis
Raptis has more than 20 years’ sales experience, most recently as director of client sales at Ozone, an advertising platform powered by technology and data, founded by the UK’s leading publishers, News UK, The Guardian, The Telegraph and Reach plc, for their advertiser’s video, display, and e-commerce campaigns. She has also previously held senior client and sales roles at News UK, WSJ, and Hearst.
Reporting to Gray, Raptis will work closely with News’ managing director client partnerships Lou Barrett and the client partnerships team. She will begin her new role on 15 July.
Other editorial leaders under Gunn include:
• Kelvin Healey, editor of The Australian
• Edwina McCann, editorial director and publisher, prestige and Conde Nast Titles
• Darren Davidson, managing editor and commercial director
• Petra Rees, deputy editor
• Georgina Windsor, deputy editor
• Christine Kellett, head of digital
• Claire Harvey, editorial director
• Perry Williams, business editor
• Johnathan Barhoumeh, head of video
Other recent senior appointments reporting to Gray are:
Suz Rolfe, current head of subscriber experience, will move to the new role of general manager, Marketing, Audience and Digital Development to drive audience growth and lead digital product management.
Chrissie Bell, appointed general manager, Subscriber Data, Platforms and Growth, will optimise revenue growth and enhance subscriber experience through platforms, data, pricing strategies and consumer operations for all News Corp Australia.
Helen McMurdo, current general manager, Tech Platform Partnerships, will continue to lead the strategy and execution for content licensing, technology platform partnerships, and content partnerships for all of News Corp Australia reporting to Gray.
The Australian and Prestige portfolio of brands includes The Australian, Wish, The List, Travel + Luxury, The Weekend Australian Magazine and the Conde Nast International titles – Vogue Australia, Vogue Living and GQ Australia.
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Top image: Nicholas Gray and Michelle Gunn