Kevin Bakhurst has officially begun his role as RTÉ Director-General, following Dee Forbes’ early resignation. Bakhurst has stood down the organisation’s Executive Board, which has been replaced with a temporary interim leadership team to continue running the organisation.
The Temporary Interim Leadership Team is:
- Kevin Bakhurst, Director-General
- Eimear Cusack, Director of Human Resources
- Vivienne Flood, Head of Public Affairs*
- Mike Fives, Group Financial Controller, RTÉ*
- Adrian Lynch, Director Audiences, Channels, Marketing, and continuing as Acting Deputy DG
- Paula Mullooly, Director of Legal
- Deirdre McCarthy, Director of News & Current Affairs
- Niamh O'Connor, Deputy Director of Content*
- Conor Mullen, Head of Strategy & Commercial Compliance, RTÉ Media Sales*
- Richard Waghorn, Director of Operations and Technology
(* not a member of former Executive Board)
In addition, an external Corporate Governance Expert is to be recruited.
“In due course, there will be a new permanent leadership team,” said Bakhurst. “I want to underline that RTÉ, under my leadership and that of the reconstituted Interim Leadership Team, will be an organisation dedicated to working closely with you, to listening, to being open and transparent, to strictly adhering to revised and rigorous governance processes and procedures, to being accountable and to delivering a public service to be proud of. This will take time, but it will happen. It must. There is too much at stake.”
He continued: “I can confirm that RTÉ will publish the salaries of the Executive/permanent Interim Leadership Team along with the earnings of RTÉ's 10 highest paid presenters in our annual report every year, starting with Annual Report 2023.”
Following Bakhurst’s announcement, Geraldine O’Leary has announced that she is to take early retirement from her role as RTÉ’s Director of Commercial with immediate effect.
“My career at RTÉ is a great source of pride and honour to me,” said Gerladine O’Leary. “Bringing my retirement forward by a number of weeks is not something I had anticipated. However, I recognise that a fresh leadership team, starting today, is vital as Kevin Bakhurst sets out to renew RTÉ, and I have agreed to facilitate that.”
Geraldine O’Leary joined RTÉ in 1997 as Manager Television Sales and was promoted to Director Sales and Marketing in 1999. In 2003, she was appointed Commercial Director RTÉ Television. She was appointed Group Head of Commercial RTÉ in January 2018 and was responsible for leading all of the divisional and cross-divisional commercial staff and operations at RTÉ.
Prior to Bakhurst’s announcement, Rory Coveney also announced that he is to step down from his role as RTÉ’s Director of Strategy with immediate effect.
“I met with Kevin over the past few days and told him I believed the tough job ahead of him would be made somewhat easier if he had a fresh lead team,” said Rory Coveney. “I’ve tendered my resignation immediately to give him the space to do that. Having worked with Kevin before, I’ve absolute faith in him. He’s the right person to rebuild the national broadcaster. I wish him the very best.”
Coveney has been with RTÉ since 2007 in a variety of roles. Prior to joining RTÉ, Coveney worked for Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Coveney is a graduate of UCC where he gained a BA in history. He also holds an MA in Interactive Media from TU Dublin.
The replacement of the Executive Board with an interim leadership team is the first of four initial changes Bakhurst outlined when speaking with the Board of RTÉ, in regards to how he plans to rebuild trust in the national broadcaster.
The other changes Bakhurst outlined are:
- Changes in how the leadership team makes and accounts for significant decisions, with appropriate oversight by the RTÉ Board.
- A new Register of Interests.
- A commitment to drive cultural change in the organisation.
