Fiona Connolly steps down as group publisher at Are Media
A huge shake-up in magazine land is looming with Fiona Connolly stepping down as the group publisher of the company behind New Idea and Woman’s Day.
Entertainment
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Fiona Connolly, group publisher of weekly titles at magazine group Are Media, is moving on from her role.
Connolly confirmed the surprise news in an internal email to staff on Saturday.
“I have decided to step away from my role at Are Media to pursue my next adventure,” she wrote. “I’m incredibly proud of all I’ve achieved... but I’m now ready to explore the opportunities of a rapidly developing media landscape here and internationally.”
Connolly said she is “enormously grateful to my talented colleagues who have underpinned every success, not least my senior leadership team and editors who have been unwavering in their support personally and professionally.”
She finished by wishing her colleagues well.
During 13 years at Are Media, formerly Australian Consolidated Press until 2012, then Bauer Media until 2020, Connolly presided over mass media titles including Woman’s Day, New Idea, TV Week, Who and That’s Life.
Despite sweeping changes to the company’s ownership and executive structure during her tenure – including Bauer’s controversial acquisition of chief rival magazine group Pacific Publications in 2020 – Connolly, who joined ACP in 2009 as the youngest ever editor of Woman’s Day and rose quickly through the ranks to became editor-in-chief, editorial director and lastly group publisher, not only survived but thrived.
Privately, Connolly endured great tragedy on the home front following the breakdown of her marriage with the sudden death of her teenage son Max in 2021 who suffered cardiac arrest while playing basketball with friends.
A year earlier the publishing executive confirmed to this column her recent diagnosis with a rare auto-immune disease, which she declined to name, for which she has undergone a stem cell transplant and chemotherapy.
Connolly did not return calls when contacted.
This column is advised Connolly is currently making plans for her forthcoming 2023 wedding to her partner, health retreat manager Brook Ramage.
Friends say despite her illness, she is “100 per cent fit and well”.
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