Bastion Transform has announced the appointment of Jenni Ryall to the newly created senior position of group director, business development and strategy.
Ryall joins Bastion Transform – led by former ABC News director Gaven Morris – with over 15 years of industry experience in tech, news media and content strategy.
Formerly at Meta in strategic partnerships for News, Ryall played a key role in driving the multi-million-dollar investments into media companies across ANZ, including the $15 million Meta News Fund with the Walkley Foundation and the New Zealand investment strategy.
Prior to this, Ryall has had an extensive career as a leader in news and digital media in Australia and the US where she has been at the centre of digital transformation, the repositioning of high-growth media brands and the push for innovation in news products.
As VP digital content at the US local broadcaster TEGNA, Ryall oversaw 47 digital newsrooms and more than 3,000 journalists, and led strategies for digital transformation, audience acquisition and technology innovation.
As VP content strategy at Mashable in New York, Ryall was responsible for building and launching innovative projects to drive growth of new audiences and revenue, including Mashable’s e-commerce brand and the first-in-market vertical video product.
In her new role, Ryall’s focus will be on building out the media, tech, and content businesses for Transform, adding further breadth of expertise to the existing team’s understanding of technology, audience, and monetisation strategy. Bastion Transform is rising to be Australasia’s leading specialist digital media transformation business.
Morris said of Ryall’s appointment: “I’m excited Jenni Ryall has agreed to write the next chapter of her illustrious career with the growing Bastion Transform team. Jen’s experience and expertise with newsrooms, publishers and platforms is a breakthrough appointment.
“As another wave of major change approaches, the Asia Pacific region needs a specialist service focused on purpose-led transformation and building successful future business. Our outstanding team is proud Jen is joining us in this new senior leadership role.”
Ryall said of joining the content strategy and digital transformation arm of Bastion: “I’m absolutely thrilled to join Gaven Morris and the brilliant team at Bastion Transform at a crucial time for businesses working at the intersection of technology, media, and content.
“With the explosion of AI into the mainstream, the rise of new formats for younger generations and the growth of new revenue models utilising content, it’s an important moment to extend the innovative future of content and media with Bastion Transform.”
At the end of last year, Google News Initiative partnered with Bastion Transform to launch a series of newsroom experiments to support innovation and trusted journalism. This project launched with a number of media organisations including BusinessDesk, Nine Publishing and National Indigenous Times.
–
Top image: Jenni Ryall and Gaven Morris