In The Frame: The New Head Of Fairfax
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday September 29, 1995
Old, painted Fairfaxes looked down from the walls yesterday on Mr Bob Mansfield, a youngish-looking man best known for selling hamburgers and a phone company, who was trying confidently to come to terms with 164 years of history.
Mr Mansfield, who is to become the new chief executive of John Fairfax, cheerfully admitted that he knew nothing about the business of newspapers. Nobody in the Fairfax executive suite thought this a problem.
Newspaper journalists like to think of their trade as special, and perhaps it is, but yesterday's announcement of Mr Mansfield's appointment made it clear that newspapers have much in common with hamburgers.
So while the original John Fairfax was a newspaperman who would not have thought of selling hamburgers and would not have dreamt of cable TV, these are all products to be sold in the 1990s. And Mr Mansfield is seen as a salesman of stature.
Mr Stephen Mulholland, the retiring chief executive, said Mr Mansfield was a brilliant and highly successful executive who would put the icing on the Fairfax cake and that the company was a different animal these days. "I have no doubt at all he (Mansfield) will make it an even greater company."
Some employees of Optus Communications doubted as recently as Thursday night whether Mr Mansfield had much of a future with that company. One telephoned the Herald to say the boss was on the way out. He was, but to join Fairfax.
Two years ago, Mr Mansfield had said he would be at Optus for 10 years and would leave only if he were sacked. But that was two years ago, a long time in business. An opportunity like that presented by Fairfax came along only once in a lifetime. "Optus recognised the power of the Fairfax offer."
Aged 44, he was educated at Barker College and the University of NSW, graduating in 1974 with a Bachelor of Commerce. He is married with five children, with whom he wants to spend more time.
He played fullback for Gordon rugby club's first XV in the early 1970s. Former teammate Murray Fox, now general manager business operations for the Sydney Ports Corporation, says he was sound in defence and showed occasional flair in attack.
Mr Mansfield played soundly yesterday, perhaps promising occasional flair. He would offer management, rather than telephony, skills. He would ask what the customer wanted: newspapers, laptops, CD-ROMs? He would drive the company from the customer's end.
Although he didn't know much about newspapers, he said: "Journalistic independence is fundamental ... I am not going to be telling people how to write articles."
PAGE 31: Market reaction. PAGE 33: How he got the job; What now for Optus.
© 1995 Sydney Morning Herald
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