Telegraph Media Group’s head of digital development, Greg Hadfield, is leaving the company after just over a year in the job.
Hadfield, who has held the role since January last year, told close colleagues at the Telegraph on Monday about his move to the digital media company Cogapp.com and announced his decision publically at the News:Rewired conference yesterday.
No date has been formally agreed, but he expects to take up his new role as director of strategic projects at Brighton-based Cogapp next month.
A spokeswoman for Telegraph Media Group told Press Gazette: “Greg Hadfield was employed at TMG on a 12 month contract which expired at the end of last week. It was mutually agreed that this would not be renewed. TMG is focusing its digital development on its Euston project and Hadfield had no involvement in this.”
Told Press Gazette he was moving from “a media owner of a newspaper on Fleet Street” to “a media owner that’s a world class business and brand”, and that as a Manchester United fan he was particularly looking forward to working with the club, which has been a Cogapp client for ten years
The opportunity to help expand the company in the US was another reason, as was Cogapp’s work with government data.
He added: “I would welcome the chance for Cogapp and I to help TMG to develop and grow. They are a remarkably ambitious media company, with inspirational leadership.”
TMG brought in Hadfield last year to oversee the group’s digital development, initially in sport, and expand their depth of coverage.
He was also charged with helping to integrate data and commercial partnerships.
Before joining TMG Hadfield was a founder of the Wills Information News Service, supplying national and local media with legacy information, and had been a Fleet Street journalist for a number of years before that.
Hadfield left Express Newspapers in 1996 to edit Soccernet, a website he created with his then 12 year old son, and which he sold to Associated Newspapers and which was later sold to Disney for £25m.
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