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News UK has restructured The Sun’s leadership team.
A trio of executives have been appointed to replace outgoing Sun managing director Ben Walmsley: strategic development director Louise Crosby, commercial director Owen Griffiths and group commercial operations and technology director Dan Petrie.
Crosby has been named customer revenue director, Griffiths becomes commercial revenue director and Petrie is named director of product and technology.
They will collectively fill the role of Walmsley, who has become senior vice-president, global head of innovation, at parent publisher News UK.
“These three roles underline our clear focus on driving The Sun‘s strategic and digital-first objectives,” said Sun executive vice-president and publisher Dominic Carter. “Louise, Owen and Dan are all highly experienced professionals, steeped in The Sun‘s DNA and its potential for growth.
“This structure provides clear lines of accountability, fast decision-making and will allow us to accelerate our digital innovation.”
Under Walmsley, The Sun made investments in first-party data and sought a “strategy of scarcity” for content delivery over a “strategy of abundance”.
Crosby added: “Our readers are at the heart of our business and, in the ever-changing media landscape, they have never been more important to us. I’m delighted to be part of The Sun’s new leadership team at an exciting time in the brand’s development, as we implement our roadmap of innovative new products that will continue to drive deep engagement from existing and new audiences.”
Griffiths pointed to the latest Pamco data, which shows The Sun engages over 26m monthly consumers, adding that News UK’s first-party data tool Nucleus “allows us to segment and profile audiences of interest across the UK more effectively than ever before”.
Petrie hinted that The Sun‘s product roadmap is “set to deliver best-in-class enhanced digital experiences for both audiences and clients in the months ahead”.
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