Southern Cross Media names ex-Seven exec Rohan Lund as CEO and MD

Former Seven Network executive Rohan Lund has resurfaced as the new CEO and managing director of newly merged Australian media giant Southern Cross Media.

Rohan Lund

Lund has a long relationship with the Seven Group, originally joining the network in 2004 as director of strategy and investments and then serving as CEO of merged entity Yahoo!7 for five years.

He then moved to the group chief operating officer (COO) role at Seven West Media before leaving the group in 2013. He went on to serve as COO at Foxtel and was most recently CEO of NRMA for nearly a decade.

His return comes after he joined the new board of Southern Cross on March 1. Lund replaces John Kelly who took on the interim role of CEO TV and audio while the search process was undertaken. Lund takes up his new roles on May 1 and, following a handover period, Kelly will revert to his original post as MD for audio.

In a statement, Lund said Southern Cross Media is “one of Australia’s most important media businesses, with great talent, content and impressive scale and reach across television, audio, digital and publishing. I am excited to work with the board and leadership team to accelerate our digital and operational transformation and continue to strengthen our culture and performance in the interests of our shareholders, partners and people.”

In other recent moves, the former and long-time commercial director at Seven West Media, Bruce McWilliam, has emerged as of the group’s largest shareholders after investing A$14m (US$9.98m) over the past few weeks. McWilliam served for decades as the legal powerbroker and chief advisor behind the Stokes family and its Seven West Media business.

The Southern Cross Media Group merged with Seven West Media in January, after which a number of experienced senior executive exited. In February, CEO and MD Jeff Howard (formerly from the Seven group) was removed days after chairman Kerry Stokes retired from the board. In March, 27-year veteran exec Angus Ross, group MD of Seven Television, announced his departure.