Katie Macdiarmid takes on new role as NZME’s first Chief Information Officer

AUCKLAND, Today: Katie Macdiarmid has been appointed as New Zealand Media and Entertainment’s first-ever Chief Information Officer. She brings over 25 years of experience in digital and technology roles.

Macdiarmid has worked in both New Zealand and the UK. She holds an MBA with distinction, where her thesis focused on how disruptive technologies can transform industries.

Since joining NZME in 2017, she has served as GM Digital Products for the past four years. During that time, she led the company’s digital product development and teams.

In her new role, she will continue leading NZME’s digital delivery while also managing the company’s Technology team, currently overseen by Chief Technology Officer Bill Hays.

Macdiarmid will also be responsible for NZME’s Enterprise AI. She’ll ensure that Generative AI and emerging technologies are integrated into the company’s overall technology strategy.

“I’m so proud of how the digital teams have evolved over the past few years, delivering strong, business-focused, strategic solutions, moving quickly whilst ensuring what we deliver is sustainable into the future.” – Katie Macdiarmid

Carolyn Luey, NZME’s Chief Digital & Publishing Officer, said, “The media market continues to change rapidly with traditional and digital media platforms converging, driven by the pace of technology change and the rise of Generative AI.”

Luey continued, “At NZME we saw a real opportunity for us to bring together our digital platform and technology capability under one leader to create a strong business-wide technology and Generative AI strategy.”

“Katie’s experience will be invaluable in the development of our strategy for technology, AI and digital platforms to support NZME to achieve our strategic goals. This will give us a strong competitive advantage in the market,” Luey added.

Macdiarmid is excited about the future. “I’m so proud of how the digital teams have evolved over the past few years, delivering strong, business-focused, strategic solutions, moving quickly whilst ensuring what we deliver is sustainable into the future.”

“We’ve got the right people and the tools we need to deliver fantastic content experiences for our audiences, to ensure efficiencies across the business, and to support the experiences of our team of 1200 at NZME,” she added.

“I’m excited to bring our future state strategy to life and work closely with NZME’s key partners to collectively deliver on our roadmaps,” Macdiarmid concluded.