Fairfax Media has appointed Fairfax Digital's commercial director Ed Harrison as commercial director of the company's new Metro Media division.
Harrison will report to Metro Media chief executive Jack Matthews, and will oversee agency and client relationships and trade marketing across the group, which includes print and online versions of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
AdNews revealed exclusively in March that Matthews was conducting a review of the division's senior and middle management, and that he was searching for a commercial director to lead the charge into cross-platform selling.
Matthews said: "Ed hit the ground running when he entered the digital space at Fairfax Digital in 2008, revitalising the organisation and realigning the products and sales operations. There is no doubt that Ed is the right choice to realign and invigorate the new metro media sales division."
Harrison was a driving force behind Fairfax's decision to abandon its autoplay policy, following a public admonishment of Fairfax from media agency UM.
Meanwhile, a raft of new job titles have been announced as a result of restructures at Fairfax. Melbourne Publishing marketing director David Hoath has been named chief operating officer for Melbourne Publishing; business and operations director at Melbourne Publishing David Skelton has been appointed director of business planning and operations; Australian Financial Review editor Glen Burge has been appointed director of editorial planning and process; while Fairfax Digital director of news and platforms Darren Burden has been appointed general manager of news for Digital Publishing.
The news comes amid a turbulent period at the media company. Last week, Fairfax announced restructures within the Financial Review Group's commercial sales division, while it has been speculated that this division is set to be merged with the Metro Media division.
Meanwhile, Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood announced a drop in revenue two weeks ago, as well as hundreds of redunndancies at its metro mastheads as the company looks to cut costs.
The Metro Media division was unveiled towards the end of 2010 by Brian McCarthy, who was then CEO of Fairfax Media.
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