Newscycle Solutions has seized an opportunity to build its Asia-Pacific presence with a new high-profile appointment.

Australian Bryan Hooley – back home from a stint at London’s Telegraph Media Group, where he headed the product management and technology departments – has been appointed Newscycle’s Sydney-based Asia-Pacific business manager.

Formed by the merger of DTI and Saxotech, and addition of Atex America and Mediaspan, Newscycle has been looking to rebuild and expand its presence in the region.

An Australian office of DTI – headed by David Page – was closed as part of cuts made shortly before the merger, but Newscycle has maintained a presence at events such as WAN-Ifra’s Publish Asia in Hong Kong, where Malcolm McGrory (who has since left) flew the flag for the new company.

Apart from legacy DTI users, Newscycle’s customers in the region include Singapore Press Holdings which is a user of the North American Atex AdBase product.

Hooley joined TMG in July 2012 and worked first as head of product management and then head of technology until September, when he and his South African wife and young daughter headed for Australia. He has also worked with imediaAdvisory, the digital publishing consultancy headed by another Aussie, former Associated Newspapers technology director Allan Marshall, and managed the business development department at Media24, Africa’s largest publishing group.

At Telegraph – one of the world’s largest DTI editorial systems users – he led teams responsible for the technology needed to meet the UK newspaper group’s commercial, advertising and editorial digital transformation goals.

Newscycle chief revenue officer Dan Paulus is delighted with the appointment: “Bryan brings a unique, well-rounded set of skills and experience to Newscycle,” he says. “He is a great source of knowledge, and his global media experience and perspective is a valuable asset, not only for us, but for our customers.”

Hooley says the Asia Pacific opportunity – his first on the vendor side of the fence –was a “quick and exciting decision” for him and his family. “I am very happy to be a part of the Newscycle team.”

The appointment comes at a time when a number of global systems vendors are looking to Southeast Asia for potential growth while most of the available Australian business has been done. EidosMedia snapped up the biggest deal of the decade with its Méthode implementation at News Corp Australia, and GXpress understands most of the Atex (Cyber) systems remaining in ANZ will not be up for replacement for a few more years... though industry dynamics may change that.

That said, Hooley’s broad experience at one of the world’s most admired publishing houses will certainly open doors for him, and growth in South and Southeast Asia may deliver the opportunities.

Peter Coleman