FG loyalist is RTÉ’s new chief financial officer
Former party trustee takes high-profile role at station
FINE Gael loyalist and former trustee of the party Mari Hurley has been appointed as RTÉ’s new chief financial officer.
She joins other recent executive appointments, and is not the first executive at the broadcaster to have links to Fine Gael.
The role of CFO has been vacant for five months following the controversial exits of Richard Collins and his predecessor Breda O’Keeffe.
Ms Hurley served as a trustee of Fine Gael from 2012 to 2016 and was also the party’s youth officer, chairwoman of its national executive council and worked full time on national election campaigns. While the appointment to RTÉ was not made by the Government, Ms Hurley has previously been appointed to State boards by Fine Gael governments, including those of Pobal, Telecom Éireann and Nama.
She also served as a non-executive director at Ervia (formerly Bord Gáis) until August 2021. In a statement yesterday Ms Hurley said she was ‘delighted to be joining RTÉ and its leadership team at this critical time for the organisation and for the future of public service media in Ireland’.
She continued: ‘I look forward to working with the director general, the RTÉ board, its audit and risk committee and the finance team to develop RTÉ’s financial strategy and to bring my experience of successfully leading and implementing change and transformation programmes to RTÉ, in line with the unique values and obligations of public service.’
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst described Ms Hurley as a ‘highly experienced CFO with extensive experience in setting and driving the strategic direction of global businesses’, and pointed to her corporate finance experience.
She will take up her role in late summer, joining other recent appointments to RTÉ’s leadership team, including Gavin Deans as commercial director, and Daniel Coady as director of legal.
RTÉ said her salary would be disclosed alongside those of other
‘Critical time for the organisation’