AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS - Key Persons
Andy started with AAP as a general news reporter in Sydney in 2007 and after filling many roles in many bureaus, he's made it full circle back to the harbour city as the newswire's editor. Stints in London - as European correspondent - Canberra, Hobart and most recently Melbourne as bureau chief, have included coverage of court, sport, diplomacy, finance and entertainment, plus subediting.
Prior to joining AAP Andy worked for the Illawarra Mercury and previously, Rural Press publications in regional NSW.
Ben is a British-born journalist, editor and author with more than a decade of experience working at news organisations in Australia and the UK. Before joining AAP, he worked as a news editor at News Corp Australia for various titles. Ben also previously worked at several UK newspapers, including The Argus in Brighton and The Sheffield Star.
Job Titles:
- Australian Journalist
- Check Journalist
David is an Australian journalist based in Auckland, New Zealand. He is published as an investigative journalist and has many years' experience as both a metro daily journalist and regional newspaper editor with the former Rural Press. In New Zealand, he has worked as an academic and news magazine publisher. In 2015, his book Message to My Girl with Dr Jared Noel was a top-10 bestseller for several weeks.
Dean Lewins has been a photojournalist for 32 years. He joined Australian Associated Press in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Over the past 20 years Dean has covered six Olympic Games, 4 Commonwealth Games, The Ashes, Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. His passion for sport is only equalled by his passion for news. Dean has covered unrest in East Timor, Solomon Islands and a brief stint with Australian troops in Iraq along with domestic floods, bushfire and drought. In 2018 Dean was awarded the Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year with a portfolio of news and sports images.
Emma Cowdroy - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary
Job Titles:
- Company Secretary
- General Counsel
- Member of the AAP Team
Emma joined AAP in 2002 after working with legal firms in media, telecommunications and commercial law. Appointed General Counsel late that year, Emma has become an integral part of the agency's leadership team. She represents AAP on the board of the News Media Coalition, which lobbies sporting, entertainment and other bodies for press freedom to cover events. Emma became CEO of the new AAP Newswire in August 2020, before taking a step back to take up an executive role in February 2022.
Emma has represented AAP in various forums, including Australia's Right to Know, the Senate Inquiry into Sports News Reporting (leading to the establishment of the Code of Practice for Sports News Reporting), the Senate Inquiry into Evidence Amendment (Journalists' Privilege) Bill (resulting in the Journalists' Shield Laws) and the Independent Inquiry into Media and Media Regulation.
Job Titles:
- Managing Editor
- Director of Editorial Partnerships
- Founding Member of the AAP Standards Committee
Holly brings more than 25 years of journalistic experience to her role as Managing Editor of AAP. In this key role Holly supports the daily operations of the AAP newswire and oversees the overall development and operation of AAP FactCheck, which she helped to establish in early 2019. Holly is a founding member of the AAP Standards Committee, overseeing editorial standards and advising on matters of ethics and internal policy. She is AAP's representative on the media industry regulatory body, the Australian Press Council.
John joined AAP in late 1994, having cut his teeth in sports journalism with a five-year stint in London with United Press International. He has covered six Summer Olympics, four Winter Olympics, five Commonwealth Games, eight world athletics championships, 18 AFL grand finals, tennis and golf majors and a host of other major events. But for all that, his abiding sporting love is AFL club Richmond.
Kate is a Sydney-based journalist with a background in student news and community radio. She completed a bachelor of communications at the University of Technology Sydney, where she majored in journalism and political science.
Lachlan is a Sydney-based journalist with a background in history. He graduated from Macquarie University with a major in media studies and a minor in modern history, and he is passionate about applying his research skills to his journalism.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the AAP Team
Lisa returns to AAP as CEO having started her media career at the national newswire in 2000 - first as an editorial assistant in the Brisbane bureau, then in 2001 as cadet journalist in Sydney. She became a police reporter and undertook a three-month exchange program with the UK's Press Association.
She then joined The Daily Telegraph in 2004, working there for seven years, primarily as Chief Court Reporter. In 2012, she was appointed to lead The Sydney Morning Herald's crime and courts coverage as Crime Editor. She covered the Oscar Pistorius murder trial in South Africa for the masthead among other major news events, also serving as Deputy News Director, Investigations editor and Deputy Editor.
Lisa was appointed editor of The Sydney Morning Herald in February 2017. She resigned in November 2021.
Job Titles:
- Australian Journalist and Editor
- Check Deputy Editor
Marty is an Australian journalist and editor with more than a decade of experience covering politics, finance, crime, courts, sports, technology and natural disasters. He has served as an AAP correspondent in Australia, the Pacific Islands, Europe and the Middle East, and most recently as the newswire's Queensland Chief of Staff.
Job Titles:
- Check Journalist
- Journalist and Historian
Meghan is a journalist and historian-in-training based in New Zealand. Over the past decade, she has been published in The Spinoff and The Wireless, among other publications, and she edited oral history book START: The Story So Far. In 2020, Meghan was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Postgraduate Prize in United States History and the N.A.C. McMillan Memorial Prize for New Zealand History. She is currently completing a doctorate in New Zealand history at the University of Auckland.
Job Titles:
- AAP FactCheck Journalist
- Editor and Journalist
Nik is an editor and journalist who has lived in New Zealand since 2006. He has worked for newspapers across the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and has written for publications and websites including the New Zealand Herald, Radio New Zealand, The Spinoff and the NZ Listener.
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Finance
- Head of Finance
Wayne has been a finance executive for over 25 years and has a background in both not-for-profit and commercial businesses. He has experience in all facets of financial management, governance and business partnering. Wayne has a comprehensive knowledge in finance transformation, including strategic analysis and planning, and business insight systems. He joined AAP in late 2020.
William is a British-born journalist living in Melbourne. He has written for publications including ABC News, The Guardian, The New Daily and Crikey, and was a Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism finalist in 2017. William has a background in science and academic communications, having previously worked for the Royal Statistical Society in London, the Australian National Data Service and Australian universities.