Gregory Hywood is a Walkley Award-winning reporter who went on to become the CEO and Managing Director of Fairfax Media in 2010.
Over eight years Hywood and his team dramatically turned the company's fortunes around, culminating in last years successful merger with Nine.
Hywood is currently a non-executive Chair of Free TV, an industry group representing all Australian free-to-air networks. Its network includes Seven, Nine, Ten and regional networks WIN, Southern Cross, Prime and Imparja.
Previous experience:
Journalism: Hywood's career began as a business and industrial relations reporter on the Australian Financial Review. He later moved into political and economics reporting in Canberra, and global affairs, based in London and Washington.
After returning to Australia, he became Publisher and Editor in Chief of the AFR, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age.
Government: Hywood later joined the Victorian government, becoming Executive Director of Policy and Cabinet in the Premier's department, and the CEO of Tourism Victoria.
Fairfax: Returning to Fairfax Media as a Director and later CEO, Hywood led the turnaround of Fairfax as it confronted plunging revenues and earnings in the wake of massive digital disruption.
Talking Points
Leading through Change
Hywood's stint as CEO and MD of Fairfax Media from 2010-18 saw him oversee the transformation of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review from traditional newspapers into digital first mastheads underpinned by robust new business models.Leading through Change
Identifying the looming crisis is the easy bit. Managing systemic structural change, be it political or business, requires innovative, bold leadership.
The essential issue is changing the organisational dynamic from talk to action, from debate to the development of a new strategic direction and its execution.
Hywood tackles how the best leaders achieve that critical transition. This talk will leave delegates with real world examples of how to manage change in difficult circumstances.
Media, Politics and Populism
How can you tell the difference between fake news and real news? Does objective journalism still exist in the age of social media? Is old media dead?Media, Politics and Populism
Drawing on his experience in the media and government over the past 40 years, Hywood ex-plores how we got to this point, the potential consequences and what is required if we are to stabi-lise the situation.
Delegates will leave with a better understanding of the political and economic context that their or-ganisations are operating within.
The End of News: What it means for Democracy
In 1995 the world changed forever. For the first time in human history the supply of available infor-mation exceeded the demand. The development and expansion of the internet revolutionised the ability to source and distribute information.The End of News: What it means for Democracy
The first in line for systemic disruption were traditional newspaper companies that lost their ability to monopolise the distribution of news, and saw their advertising taken by digital classified disruptors, then Google and Facebook.
Over the past 15 years, newspaper companies have faced the collapse of print advertising and an inability to offset it with digital advertising.
Drawing on his experience as CEO of Fairfax Media, Hywood will explore how long newspapers will be around, what will replace them and what this, will it mean for our democracy.
Delegates will gain a strong understanding of the forces shaping the news they receive, the fragility of its future, and the need to source widely.
Video
Greg Hywood | Introduction | Saxton Speakers Bureau
Gregory Hywood is a Walkley Award-winning reporter who went on to become the CEO and Managing Director of Fairfax Media in 2010. In the space of eight years Hywood and his team oversaw Fairfax's transition from a struggling newspaper company to its now successful merger with Channel 9.
