Wilton leaves CommsDay after 11 years

By Craig Daveson in Media News on
Decisive Publishing announced in today’s CommsDay newsletter that group editorial director Petroc Wilton is leaving the company.
 
Wilton has been a fixture within the CommsDay newsletter and wider telco community for 11 years, and founder Grahame Lynch wrote in today’s edition: “For many people, Petroc was the face, heart and soul of CommsDay."
 
“He will definitely be missed, but we are also proud that he will employ his considerable talents to publicising efforts to resolve one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises."
 
“All of us at CommsDay extend our best wishes and goodwill to him.”
 
In his new role, Wilton has been named as a communications officer for the United Nations in Uganda, where he will work as part of the UN World Food Programme in the regions of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 
Speaking to Influencing, Wilton said he has had an involvement in humanitarian work for almost a decade while also thanking his colleagues at CommsDay.
 
“I’ve been doing humanitarian work in my spare time through most of my career at CommsDay, via UNV Online Volunteering since 2009 and later with the Diplomacy Training Program – a human rights NGO based at UNSW.”
 
“I qualified for long service leave this year, and spent the first half of it doing an intensive course on forced migration at Oxford University. The contacts I made there led to a month of volunteer fieldwork with the UN in Uganda, for the second half of my leave, which in turn led to the offer of a job. Having seen first-hand the scale of the refugee influx and response in Uganda, I know this move will help me make a difference in the lives of people coping daily with unbelievable hardships,” said Wilton.
 
“I’m deeply grateful, and beyond excited, to have this opportunity at the start of a new career with the UN.  But this step simply would not have been possible without the skills and experience that I’ve built up from over a decade at CommsDay digging into all the political, technical and commercial complexities of Australian telecoms. So I wish the team all the very best, and I look forward to seeing CD continue to go from strength to strength!”
 
“I’d particularly like to thank Grahame Lynch, who gave me my first shot in journalism when I moved to Australia from a very different role in Hong Kong 11 years ago, and who I’ve been lucky to have had as an absolutely amazing boss, mentor and friend ever since.”
 
In terms of the newsletter’s future, Lynch will take over Wilton’s responsibilities throughout December and January, with Geoff Long filling the position thereafter.
 
In preparation for Wilton’s departure, CommsDay has also brought on Blake Murdoch as a chief correspondent based in Sydney. His experience includes work at trade publication the Hollywood Reporter, and also as a media officer at the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
 
Blake can be reached via blake@commsdaymail.com

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