Mr Adam Suckling has been appointed as Chief Executive of the Copyright Agency/Viscopy.
Mr Suckling is currently News Corp’s Director of Policy, Corporate Affairs and Community Relations. He joins the organisation after 20 years’ holding senior commercial, communications and policy roles in the media and telecommunications sector, including working in the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr Suckling’s experience includes running Optus’ regulatory division; working as a director at Singtel’s international finance group that oversaw the company’s overseas investments; and running Foxtel’s wholesale division – which licensed Foxtel’s digital channels and on-demand services to Telstra and Optus.
In his most recent role at News Corp Australia, he has overseen the company’s policy advocacy, along with other rights holders, for changes to the Copyright Act, to enable rights holders to more effectively address theft of their content.
Copyright Agency Chairman, Sandy Grant, welcomed the appointment. “Adam has a tremendous mix of commercial, content and copyright policy experience. He is well suited to lead the Copyright Agency into its next phase, as innovative business models emerge that offer new licensing solutions.”
The organisation has launched exciting digital initiatives such as LearningField, an industry solution that provides access to digital textbooks for secondary school students and teachers; and Reading Australia, an online resource which provides teaching material while also promoting Australian literature.”
Mr Suckling said, “I am delighted to be taking a leadership role at the Copyright Agency | Viscopy, which does such an important job in protecting the rights of authors and artists, and ensuring they are paid for their work. I am looking forward to working with colleagues at the Copyright Agency to build on the innovative solutions the organisation offers business, government and education, and to strongly put the case to policymakers that copyright and intellectual property are at the heart of sustaining Australian creativity and economic activity in the digital economy.”
Mr Grant thanked outgoing CEO Murray St Leger for his outstanding leadership of the organisation for the past two and a half years. “Whilst we are regretful that Murray has had to return to the UK prematurely, we are very confident he has left a well-organised, well-led team as a strong basis for Adam's arrival.”