Reach: Simon Fuller to step down

Reach plc, the owner of over 130 national and local media brands, have announced that the company and Simon Fuller, group chief financial officer, have mutually agreed that it is an appropriate time for Simon to step down and move on to new challenges. Simon has contributed significantly to Reach's strategy and helped guide the business through a period of significant change and will step down from his role of group chief financial officer on 31 December 2022 and will leave the group following a period of garden leave, says the publisher. Simon, will remain in his existing role until the end of this year to support the company and ensure an orderly transition.

Simon will be succeeded by Darren Fisher as group chief financial officer whose start date will be confirmed in due course, continued the publisher. Darren joins from ITV plc where he was group director of finance and has been responsible for all group finance functions and operations. Additionally he is divisional CFO for the Media & Entertainment division, which contains the UK broadcast business as well as ITV's digital offerings (ITV Hub, ITVX). He has been in this role since 2020. Previously he served as director of finance for Micro Focus plc and Sage plc.

Commenting on the appointment, Jim Mullen Reach's chief executive said: "Simon has played an important role for Reach, helping to steer the business through the pandemic. On behalf of all the board I would like to thank Simon for his valuable contribution, hard work and commitment.

"I am delighted to welcome Darren to Reach. He brings a strong set of financial, operational and strategic skills to the board. I am confident that he will make a strong contribution to our leadership team and the group. Darren is joining Reach at an important time, and I very much look forward to working with him to continue to execute our Customer Value strategy."

Reach’s full announcement can be seen here.