Stuff Group CEO departing business

Stuff Group CEO Laura Maxwell is leaving the business after leading Stuff’s transformation programme at the media organisation over the past year.

Stuff Group Owner and Publisher Sinead Boucher says Maxwell leaves with the organisation’s best wishes and thanks for her leadership.

“In her time with the business - first as Chief Growth Officer and then for the past year as Chief Executive Officer - Laura has supported our executive team as we delivered significant change in the business,” she says.

“Over this period we have restructured the organisation, completed a total technology replatform, refined our print portfolio and shaped the group into two distinct businesses - Stuff Digital and Masthead Publishing - with separate content, product and revenue strategies. 

“This step in our five year transformation strategy has been well executed and Laura has helped to set us up for the next stage as we look to invest in new technology, capability and skills for the future.”

Maxwell (Taranaki Ngāti Mutunga and Te Āti Awa) says she is extremely proud to have played her part in reshaping an independently owned New Zealand media business which has a critical role in a thriving democracy.

“I have loved our mission to Follow No One and help make Aotearoa a better place,” she says. “It has been a privilege to work for a female-owned business and with such a strategic entrepreneur as Sinead, who is bold and brave and cares deeply about the future of the industry.

“Media businesses are both people and technology driven. Although journalists and content are what most people focus on, modern media is as much about product, innovation and ensuring you are ahead of the technology curve. Collaboration is also at the heart of Stuff and I am proud of the strong partnerships we have formed with other media organisations such as MediaWorks and Warner Bros. Discovery, and with our commercial partners.”

Maxwell leaves the business for an Australian role and will resettle there in due course. Boucher will move back into leading Stuff for the next stage of its transformation.