SRF divides production and technology into two independent departments
As of April 1, 2024, the current Production & Technology department at SRF will be split into two independent departments. The new heads of department will be Bettina Hübner and Olivier Bühler, who are already responsible for Production and Technology respectively. Both will also join the SRF Executive Board.
According to the press release, the "SRF 2024" strategy had already envisaged transferring production and technology into two independent departments. However, the project was postponed to a later date.
Christoph Gebel has now decided to hand over his duties as Head of Production & Technology and member of the SRF Executive Board on April 1, 2024. He will retire in summer 2024.
SRF Director Nathalie Wappler is taking this change at the head of the company's largest department, with around 1000 employees, as an opportunity to implement the organizational adjustment and split Production and Technology into two independent departments.
Both business areas are crucial to SRF's digital transformation, as the press release explains further. As independent departments, "they will be able to devote themselves even more consistently to their constantly changing tasks in future". Bettina Hübner and Olivier Bühler, who were previously responsible for the respective Production and Technology divisions, will take over as department heads.
As part of the reorganization, Production Management and Coordination nationale et services (CNS) will become part of the future Production department. As the interface between content and production, Production Management at SRF has been responsible for the planning and production of the entire offering since 2021. By merging production management and production, the competencies for the entire production process will be combined within one organizational unit. This will enable the new production department to support the content departments even more competently and effectively in the creation of audio and video content. CNS's core business is the coordination, exchange and transfer of media content. Mario Denzler remains Head of Production Management. Reto Faedi will head CNS from April 2024. He succeeds Thomas Meier, who will retire on this date.
Experienced leaders
Bettina Hübner has been Head of Production at SRF since June 2023. In her more than 30-year career in the production industry, the 57-year-old was previously responsible for the production management of motor sports at RTL, the live broadcast teams at Red Bull Media House and video content at Bild TV.
Olivier Bühler has been Head of the new Technology division since April 2021, which was created as part of the "SRF 2024" transformation process. He joined SRF and Tpc as Head of Technology Services in 2017. Prior to this, the 59-year-old was CIO at Landys+Gyr, where he led the development and implementation of the global IT strategy and IT roadmap.
