One of Australia\u2019s largest independent media groups has appointed its new chief executive \u2013 its founder\u2019s 28-year-old son.<\/p>\n
Mamamia, which was founded by Mia Freedman in her lounge in 2007, has promoted Luca Lavigne.<\/p>\n
Mr Lavigne has worked at the business since he was a teenager, starting as an intern before becoming chief operating officer two years ago.<\/p>\n
He replaces Nat Harvey, who has left the organisation to join the Southern Cross Media Group.<\/p>\n
Mr Lavigne\u2019s appointment to the top role was announced on an episode of the Mumbrella podcast.<\/p>\n
During the appearance, he paid tribute to his predecessor, while defending his promotion.<\/p>\n
\u201dI\u2019ve spent about a decade working across every part of this business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came in when I was 18 as an intern. I found my first grey hair the other day, which I think says a lot about where I\u2019m at in my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve also just had newborn twins, I\u2019ve got three kids at home. So it seems to be a pattern in my life that I seem to do things a little early.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has been chief operating officer at the company since 2024, having worked his way up through the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard that CEO really stands for chief energy officer, and Nat is the best example of that,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never met anyone who can get up in front of a group of people and inspire them as Nat can, and I\u2019m going to miss that about her hugely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing his family links to Ms Freeman and his father Jason Lavigne \u2014 also a company director \u2014 he said he was ready for media criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be honest about how I got in the door here 10 years ago, the co-founders and I go back a long time. We\u2019ve known each other a while, I\u2019m not going to insult anyone\u2019s intelligence by pretending otherwise,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I do know is that Mamamia is not a place that you can coast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Harvey also defending his appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be nobody in this business, certainly over the last 12 months, that would question Luca\u2019s work ethic or contribution or ability to do the job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Australia\u2019s largest independent media groups has appointed its new chief executive \u2013 its founder\u2019s 28-year-old son.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[387799,387790,387458,387820,387789,387800,325111,365771,39187,126183,25668,387823,379096,376766,376730,385813,381975,381465,386130,172855,387801,387805,387814,387788,64,63,99,12585,252696,5179,387815,379391,387792,387819,5588,387797,387798,387810,387813,376861,387795,387807,377193,191,387822,387802,387808,387816,197051,387793,96328,24128,387812,387804,387806,387794,287584,96329,387821,115817,1861,9705,383869,387817,19424,387796,44731,378193,380914,387333,387818,387221,386694,387803,387811,387791,387809,9119,381028],"class_list":["post-812866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-s-28-year-old-son","tag-s-28yo-son","tag-s-appointment","tag-s-intelligence","tag-s-largest-independent-media-groups","tag-s-work-ethic","tag-my-life","tag-10-years","tag-39187","tag-126183","tag-25668","tag-a-company-director","tag-a-little","tag-a-long-time","tag-a-lot","tag-a-pattern","tag-a-place","tag-a-teenager","tag-a-while","tag-a-group","tag-about-a-decade","tag-ago-he","tag-an-episode","tag-an-intern","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-ceo","tag-chief-energy-officer","tag-chief-operating-officer","tag-contribution-or-ability","tag-each-other","tag-every-part","tag-founder-mia-freedman","tag-front","tag-her-hugely","tag-her-lounge","tag-his-appointment","tag-his-family-links","tag-his-father","tag-his-predecessor","tag-his-promotion","tag-his-way","tag-home","tag-its-founder","tag-its-new-ceo","tag-its-new-chief-executive","tag-jason-lavigne","tag-luca","tag-luca-lavigne-mr-lavigne","tag-mamamia","tag-media-criticism","tag-mia-freedman","tag-ms-freeman","tag-ms-harvey","tag-my-first-grey-hair","tag-nat","tag-nat-harvey","tag-newborn-twins","tag-newswire-business","tag-people","tag-son","tag-the-appearance","tag-the-best-example","tag-the-business","tag-the-co-founders","tag-the-company","tag-the-door","tag-the-job","tag-the-last-12-months","tag-the-mumbrella-podcast-during","tag-the-organisation","tag-the-other-day","tag-the-southern-cross-media-group-mr-lavigne","tag-the-top-role","tag-this-business","tag-three-kids","tag-tribute","tag-two-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}