In October 2021, Lisa Davies announced she would be stepping down as editor of The Sydney Morning Herald after working in the role since 2017. In her next move, she will be taking over as CEO of Australian Associated Press beginning on February 14th.
Saying she’s “delighted to be returning to where it all began,” Davies began her career as a cadet journalist at AAP in 2001.
Delighted to be returning to where it all began, taking over as CEO of @AAPNewswire next month. A hugely important organisation with so much potential. Can’t wait to get stuck in.
— Lisa Davies (@lisazdavies) January 20, 2022
In 2020, AAP Newswire came dangerously close to closing down for good, but at the eleventh hour AAP was sold to a consortium of investors and philanthropists. Whilst the company still faced job losses, the change in ownership meant that the newswire continued to operate.
“Outgoing CEO Emma Cowdroy, the board of directors and AAP’s dedicated supporters have done an incredible job stabilising the organisation following the ownership change in 2020,” Davies said. “Now we will focus on long-term growth and sustainable success.”
Emma Cowdroy
Speaking about her time in the role, Emma Cowdroy said “It has been a great privilege to lead our national newswire through one of the most challenging periods in its long and distinguished history and to have played a key role in saving it from closure.”
“I am proud of the fact that throughout it all, our dedicated team continued to deliver quality, objective news reporting without missing a beat.”
See More: CEO Emma Cowdroy on AAP 2.0, Media Diversity, revenue streams, and NCA’s newswire
Lisa Davies joined The Herald as a crime editor in 2012, and stepped into the editor role in 2017. In her almost five years leading the paper, Davies oversaw the 2018 merger of Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment Co, and the coverage of national crises including the 2019/20 bushfire season and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under her leadership, The Sydney Morning Herald’s audience grew from 5.5 million readers to 8.4 million.