Alumni Profile: John O’Loan
Green Templeton College alumnus John O’Loan (MSc Consulting & Coaching for Change (CCC), Templeton College 2003-4) has worked with more than 40 leading channel and media brands, on their strategy, creativity and business development.
A trail blazing career at the leadership level of media organisations in the UK and around the world has given John O’Loan a front row seat to the challenge of change, and the opportunities created by a continuous digital media evolution.
Responsible for the launch of Sky News, he has since gone on to work with more than 40 leading channel and media brands, on their strategy, creativity and business development, to foster within each a strong and unique culture and content proposition.
He has taken this hands-on experience and understanding of transformational change and combined it with new organisational culture and leadership initiatives from Green Templeton College and the HEC in Paris. He is a founding member of the international tCL community of practice, which has its roots in the joint CCC course initiated by Templeton Collage and HEC. The Change Leaders continues the development of leadership and culture change from both universities, into a community of practice in the wider world.
He takes the lead in tCL’s media initiatives. In their first book “New Eyes” John and his tCL colleagues provide new, forwards thinking on leadership and organisational evolution in disruptive change.
Via tCL and the iO Media Group, the partnership which he co-founded, John has more recently worked to help change from within at organisations as diverse as the BBC, the European Endowment for Democracy, National Geographic documentary and Fox entertainment channels, BT Sport and ESPN, News UK, Microsoft, Sky, ITN, Liberty Global in Europe and Latin America, NDTV and Star in India, AlArabiya and MBC in the Middle East, and UK production house Sunset+Vine, to forge new media creativity through new organisational culture.
John combined hands-on experience and understanding of transformational change with new organisational culture and leadership initiatives from Green Templeton College and the HEC in Paris.
Awarded the Royal Television Society Judges Award for services to British journalism, he is also a founding board director of the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit Limited, responsible to the Speaker of The House of Commons and The Lord Speaker of the House of Lords for video and audio coverage from the Palace of Westminster. He has held and continues to hold various board of director positions in UK and international media organisations.
An independent consultant since 2004, John has maintained long running associations with the world’s largest media companies including; Asia’s leading news and factual broadcaster NDTV in India where he is an Independent Non Executive Director; Liberty and chellomedia in Europe and Latin America, advising on strategy, merger and acquisition and the reorganization of a number of Liberty’s channel brands including sports interests in Europe; MBC and Al Arabiya in the Middle East advising on strategy, the launch and operations of a number of the Middle East’s most successful media brands; Setanta Sports with Virgin Media and ITN in the UK; the North American Sports Network, now part of ESPN; Kingdom Holdings in the Middle East; Sky TG24 in Italy; Sport Five based in Switzerland, as well as the Interax digital technology solutions company.
Beginning his career in journalism and production, in his native Australia, John has lived and worked in most parts of the world, holding senior positions in media and content businesses including;
Managing Director and Head of News of Sky News based in London; Director of International Development at British Sky Broadcasting for Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australasia; Head of Production and Executive Vice President of STAR TV Networks for China, India and South East Asia; Managing Director of the National Geographic Channels in Europe and Australia; Executive Vice President of the Fox International Channels; CEO of NDTV Profit; CEO of 24LIVE UK Ltd. He was previously Director of News and of Programming at Network TEN in Australia.
It was while consulting media operators around the world on adapting to digital change, that John founded the iOMedia Group to develop the Live News and Sports system of digital production. The LNS system now holds patents for the digital adaption of linear workflows and data, transferring into apps and web pages. In a competition of some of Britain’s sharpest technology and software developers, LNS was recently the recipient of a research grant from Innovate UK, which is the British Government’s research and development initiative for advanced technology, to further the system on the global market.
John says, “It’s what I learned at Templeton and through my tCL colleagues that lead to the development of LNS. We couldn’t have done it without that study and academic background.”
LNS is demonstrated at the world’s leading trade shows and media conferences, under the catch phrase “one button changes everything.”
John lives beside the Thames in London. iOMedia Group Limited and Live News and Sports Systems are based nearby at Chiswick Park.
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