Nine’s new chair, Catherine West, will not only have to take over from her larger-than-life predecessor, Peter Costello, in managing the review of the company’s culture but also steer it through a period of steady decline in the media sector.

West, who spent 17 years as a legal director for Rupert Murdoch’s Sky UK and was the deputy chair at Nine, was appointed as Costello’s successor on Sunday afternoon, days after the former treasurer’s altercation with a journalist at Canberra Airport.

Nine’s new chair Catherine West faces a cultural and operational mountain.Credit: Louie Douvis

West, a lawyer by trade, is a relatively unknown entity in Australian media with little operational media experience. She does hold director roles on ASX-listed Peter Warren Automotive Holdings and Monash IVF, and was recently made chair of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). She is also on NIDA’s Foundation Trust alongside Nine’s director of communications and public relations, Victoria Buchan.

With Costello’s parting words on Sunday pointing to the “enormous challenges ahead” for Nine – which includes putting the company’s governance issues to bed – West will also need to reassure investors that Nine can ride out anaemic advertising........

© WA Today