Michelle Guthrie (born 1965) is an Australian business executive and lawyer. Guthrie was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1965, was educated at Brigidine College Randwick and Kambala Girls' School, and studied arts and law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. She joined the law firm Allen, Allen & Hemsley as a media and technology lawyer in Sydney and Singapore, then moved to London as a corporate counsel for

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...

. She remained with the News Corporation group of companies for thirteen years, returning to Australia for an 18-month stint as director of legal and business development for

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

, then to Hong Kong to replace

James Murdoch James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (born 13 December 1972) is an American - British businessman. He is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairma ...

as the CEO of STAR TV. In 2007, she became managing director of

Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, and technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity inves ...

in Hong Kong. In 2011, she joined

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

as managing director of partner business solutions, and later was managing director for agencies for the Asia-Pacific region, based in the company's Singapore office. In December 2015, it was announced that Guthrie would become managing director of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC), replacing Mark Scott who retired in April 2016. Guthrie assumed the ABC position on 2 May 2016. She has been criticised for her lack of understanding of public broadcasting and journalism. On 24 September 2018, ABC Chair Justin Milne announced that Guthrie had been sacked from the role of managing director of the ABC after the board of directors had concluded it was not in the best interests of the organisation for her to continue. After her dismissal, Guthrie took legal action against the ABC for unfair dismissal, represented by Johnson Winter Slattery. In March 2019, Guthrie and the ABC reached a settlement on the matter, with Guthrie receiving $730,000 to drop the legal action. Guthrie is married to Darren Farr, a chef and restaurateur who runs The LoKal restaurant in Singapore. They have two daughters.

References

1965 births Living people Australian chief executives Managing directors of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Women television executives Google employees Australian women chief executives Businesspeople from Sydney Lawyers from Sydney Australian women lawyers Sydney Law School alumni University of Sydney alumni People educated at Kambala School Australian expatriates in Singapore Australian expatriates in England {{Australia-business-bio-stub