HT&E Limited has appointed Hamish McLennan as Chairman, effective from today.

The chairman appointment follows an extensive search process conducted by the Board with the assistance of Spencer Stuart.

Acting HT&E chairman, Paul Connolly, said McLennan was an outstanding choice for chairman and the strongest possible endorsement of how much the company had achieved in completely transforming its business over the past five years.

“Hamish is an experienced media and marketing executive who brings unparalleled expertise to the Board, given the global roles he has held and his depth of understanding of the changing media landscape and the demands of advertisers.

“He has a proven track record as an outstanding leader across the media and advertising sectors and will be invaluable as HT&E evolves post the sale of Adshel.”

Adshel was recently approved for acquisition by outdoor media giant oOh!media.

Hamish McLennan said the opportunity to chair HT&E was very attractive because of the quality of the Company’s assets, its management team, and balance sheet.

He said that these three points are critical for any company to grow and HT&E delivers on all of them.

“Radio is a fantastic medium with proven ongoing growth potential and HT&E has the leading metropolitan radio business in the country and the best radio talent in Australia. I am delighted to be joining HT&E at this pivotal point in its evolution.”

McLennan currently chairs ASX listed company REA Group, and is also a non-executive director of Magellan Financial Group.

Previous roles McLennan has held include executive chairman and chief executive officer of Ten Network Holdings (2013-2015), executive vice president for News Corp in Sydney and New York (2012-2013) and global chairman and CEO of Y&R, a division of WPP, the world’s largest communications services group (2006-2011).

In September, it was speculated ex-Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh was the hot favourite to become HT&E’s new chairman.

The HT&E Board is continuing to assess further candidates for additional independent non-executive director appointments.