Stuff's Sinead Boucher appointed to global media leadership role

The International News Media Association, the world's leading media industry organisation, has today announced that Stuff Group Owner and Publisher Sinead Boucher has been appointed its First Vice-President, and will become President in 2028, its 100th year of operation.

The first New Zealander to be appointed to the INMA Board in 2022, Boucher will serve her two-year Vice-President term under new President Siv Juvik Tveitnes, CEO of Schibsted in Norway, before taking the President's role.

Other appointees to the INMA Board include executive leaders from the Boston Globe, Axel Springer in Germany, the Financial Times in United Kingdom and The Quint in India. INMA has a global membership of more than 26,000 senior media executives from 900 companies in 103 countries.

Announcing Boucher's appointment today, Executive Director and CEO Earl Wilkinson said INMA was thrilled to welcome her.

"Sinead brings something rare to this role: deep operating experience, a journalist's instincts, and a genuine commitment to the global community of news publishers. Our members will benefit enormously from her judgment, and I look forward to working alongside her in the year ahead."

The Vice-President and President work closely together on agenda-setting, board management and strategic priorities for INMA, which equips news media organisations to grow audience, revenue and brand in a fast-changing industry. It has offices in Dallas, Antwerp, Nairobi, New Delhi and South America.

Boucher says INMA's global community is an exceptional talent pool of business leaders who are strategically focused on helping media organisations to thrive. Joining its Executive Committee as VP is an opportunity to help shape the industry at a time of profound market change.

"INMA works on the business of journalism so that all publishers can deliver the impactful journalism that is so needed in the world today," she says. "Journalism is a cornerstone of democracy here in New Zealand, and around the globe. Being able to scrutinise the powerful and hold them to account is why INMA, and its members, exist.

"I am extremely honoured to have been appointed to these roles with a Board of such formidable executive leaders, and to be able to lead the organisation as it celebrates 100 years of operation."

Boucher began her career as a reporter in a branch office of The Press in Canterbury before moving to London where she worked for the Financial Times and Reuters. She became CEO of Stuff Ltd in 2013 before buying the business from Australia's Nine Entertainment in 2020. She has restructured, replatformed and redesigned the business since then, while retaining its position as the number one news media organisation in New Zealand across digital and print audiences.