Jamaica’s leading media group, RJR/Gleaner Communications, has announced a major board shake-up with the recruitment of four new directors, as well as changes in the structure and membership of its Board Committees.

The four departing directors are Lisa Gaye Johnston, Dr David McBean, Elizabeth Ann Jones and Minna Israel, having tendered their resignations, effective January 12.

The incoming directors are Novar Patrick McDonald, Judith Chung, Inés Pacheco and Nicki Purcell. Their appointments are also effective on January 12. 

The Board has expressed its sincere gratitude to the outgoing directors for their years of service, their sterling contributions to the board, and their commitment to the success of the organisation.

The revised committee structure and committee memberships are as follows: 

A. Corporate Governance Committee. Mandate: Board succession, governance framework, board evaluation, director development, policy oversight. Chair: Douglas Orane. Members: Novar Patrick McDonald, Dr Cassida Jones Johnson and Judith Chung.

B. Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. Mandate: Internal controls, statutory and internal audit processes, finance, compliance oversight and risk management. Chair: Judith Chung. Members: Dr Cassida Jones Johnson, Novar Patrick McDonald and Peter Melhado.

C. HR & Compensation Committee. Mandate: Executive compensation, performance evaluations, organisational culture, leadership development, succession planning. Chair: Dr Cassida Jones Johnson. Members: Joseph Matalon and Douglas Orane.

D. Digital, Business & Technology Committee: Digital transformation initiatives, technology stack/platforms, product innovation, data strategy. Chair: Mervyn Eyre. Members: Nicki Purcell, Trevor Chung (co-opted), Sharon Roper and Inés Pacheco. 

E. Editorial & Content Strategy Committee. Mandate: Editorial integrity, content standards, regulatory compliance, editorial risk, public-interest obligations. Chair: Joseph Matalon. Members: Inés Pacheco, Nicki Purcell, Sharon Roper and Gary Allen (co-opted).

Bio of new directors:

• Novar Patrick McDonald: McDonald is a commercial attorney and a partner at the Jamaican law firm, Hart Muirhead Fatta. Admitted to practice in Jamaica in 1993, he was educated at the University of the West Indies and the Norman Manley Law School. He is currently a director of Carreras Limited. He is a member of the Commercial Law Committee of the Jamaican Bar Association and served for a number of years as an associate tutor at the Norman Manley Law School. He is a past member of the Corporate Governance Committee of the PSOJ and conducts training in public and private sector corporate governance from time to time. He has been consistently named as one of the leading commercial attorneys in Jamaica by Chambers Global.
• Judith Chung: Chung is an attorney-at-law and senior governance, risk, and compliance professional, experienced in legal advisory, internal audit, and enterprise risk management. Chung currently serves as Group Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Legal Counsel at GraceKennedy Limited, with responsibility for the Group’s Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management portfolios. She previously served as Chief Audit Executive of GraceKennedy Limited, where she led the Group’s internal audit function. Her earlier career includes partnership in private legal practice and senior in-house legal counsel roles spanning the foods and financial services sectors, with expertise in areas such as insurance, banking, employment, pensions and commercial law. 
• Inés Pacheco: Pacheco is a media, branding, and consumer products executive with extensive international experience spanning digital media strategy, brand licensing, commercial operations, and data-driven sales systems. She is currently an Independent Consultant based in Jamaica, advising on print and digital media strategy and brand development. Pacheco previously held senior leadership roles with global media, licensing, and digital content companies, including Senior Director, Brand Development at Leveraged Marketing Corporation of America, Vice President, Licensing & Brand Design Operations at BuzzFeed and Director of Licensing at The Soul Publishing. Earlier in her career, Pacheco held senior analytical and strategy roles at The Wall Street Journal, where she was responsible for sales systems, analytics, and business intelligence supporting the integration of print and digital advertising operations. 
• Nicki Purcell: Purcell is a senior executive and board director with extensive experience in digital transformation, technology strategy, revenue growth, and media operations. She is currently Chief Technology Officer for Morgan’s Inclusion Initiative, where she leverages cutting-edge technology to transform experiences for individuals of all abilities. Purcell previously served as President of Insite, LLC, a custom software development shop and as Chief Executive Officer of Lifeblue Inc. Earlier in her career, she held senior executive roles at The Dallas Morning News / A.H. Belo Corporation and senior leadership roles at Nokia Inc. Purcell currently serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards in the media, technology, and digital content sectors.

The RJRGLEANER Communications Group was established in April 2016 following an amalgamation of the RJR Communications Group and The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited. RJR and the Gleaner have been serving the Jamaican public for 75 and 189 years, respectively. The amalgamated group operates radio stations, four television channels, two newspapers locally, as well as weekly publications in three diaspora centres. It also publishes a children’s newspaper (Children’s Own), operates a multimedia company, a global streaming platform (1spotmedia) as well as several digital and social media assets.