Fairfax sees Saw off, search for replacement on

Singapore - Diana Saw, Country Manager for Singapore at Fairfax Business Media (FBM) -- publisher of MIS Asia and MIS Tech magazines -- has resigned from her position, citing the search for "new challenges" as the reason for her departure. Australia-based Fairfax General Manager Matt Rigney is currently searching for a replacement for Saw.

"The person running the Asian business has to think like an entrepreneur and not an accountant, and has to be honest with passion and commitment," said Saw, responding to questions on advice for Rigney when picking a successor. "Matt should also consider staff opinion before making his decision as the FBM Asia team is savvy -- they can smell a con artist a mile away!"

Marketing Weekly understands that Rigney is coming to Singapore temporarily to manage the office after Saw's official departure end-week, but would not be relocating here.

"I'm sure Matt will deal with it properly -- I think he knows what to do," said Quentin Long, ex-General Manager of Fairfax and Rigney's predecessor. Long added that Saw's achievements were "very black and white -- she's catapulted MIS Asia to a new place in IT publishing and her team's very loyal to her."

Saw commented that her staff should be considered for her position as "there is a lot of talent in this office." When contacted, Editor for MIS Asia John Lui confirmed that he would not be applying for the job.

"There is tremendous potential in the MIS and Fairfax Business Research brands in the region so the new country manager has to think big, continue to develop relationships with regional societies and industry bodies and also think about country editions," said Saw. "This person will have absolutely the best tech publishing team to support him or her, so there really is no excuse for failure."