Meet Our Team

Your connection to Australia’s media powerhouses.

Founder & Managing Director

Nic Hayes

After setting out as a young recruit in the Police Force and the Armed Forces, Nic found his way to working in the media and hasn’t looked back.

Media monitoring was his first foray into the industry, a career that took him around Australia and to the UK. After returning back to Australia, he ran his own PR agency for three years before launching Media Stable in 2012. Nic designed the business model to service a market that had largely been ignored by PR – micro and small business owners. At the same time, he recognised that newsrooms around the country were shrinking rapidly and needed more editorial style content delivered to them directly. And so, the Media Board was born. Nic’s extensive background in media monitoring and traditional PR in Australia and overseas meant he had long standing relationships with media around the country. Journalists came to Media Stable seeking expert commentators for their stories and our stable of experts grew quickly in response to the demand. Now, more than 12 years on, Nic regularly appears in the media himself, commentating on the industry. When he’s not pitching to or appearing in the media, you’ll most likely find Nic with his young family, passionately supporting North Melbourne or Arsenal.

Operations Manager

Raquel Mullings

Raquel brings a formidable range of administrative skills to Media Stable thanks to her extensive career spanning two dynamic industries – media and football.

She spent seven years at the West Coast Eagles football club in a key administration role, and nearly 20 years at Radio 6PR and 96fm, working across sales, marketing, and promotions. Joining Media Stable in 2017 as Operations Manager, she is responsible for the smooth day to day operations of the business, including the organisation and delivery of our signature #MeetTheMedia events, the onboarding of new clients, newsletter production, website management and the coordination of media training. Raquel’s unflappable good nature, attention to detail and her first-hand knowledge of the media industry make her an integral part of the Media Stable team.

Director of Media Engagement

John Solvander

John joined Media Stable in 2016, after almost 20-plus years in talk radio in the competitive Melbourne and Perth radio markets.

He cut his teeth as an Assistant Producer on 3AW’s Neil Mitchell Morning Program and went onto a role as Executive Producer of Steve Price’s Drive show. He also oversaw Fairfax Radio’s National Network Olympic coverage in 2000, and in 2001 was promoted to Program Director at Perth’s Radio 6PR. During his time in radio, he produced live programs through some of the key news events of the last several decades including the Port Arthur Massacre, The Second Gulf War, September 11 and the Bali Bombings of 2002 and 2005. He brings not only extensive hands-on experience as a producer, but also a keen nose for news, and an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of news media.

Media Engagement Manager

Suzi O’Dell

Suzi has over 30 years’ experience in strategic communications, PR, event management, and media engagement. Working with Melbourne’s leading PR firm, Turnbull Porter Novelli, Suzi played an integral role in the Victorian Firearm Reform Communication Program on behalf of the Department of Justice, which won the PRIA Awards for Excellence.

She was responsible for developing and overseeing all internal and external communications for the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre including producing and driving public relations in the lead-up to the opening of the iconic $1.4billion Melbourne Convention Centre. As Dairy Australia’s communications and engagement manager, Suzi created the award-winning Legendairy Capital program to unite dairy farmers with their regional and rural communities. She joined Media Stable in 2018 as media engagement manager and is based on the east coast.

Media Engagement Manager

Simone Kerr

Simone’s expertise lies in the television newsroom. From crafting stories to sourcing all the elements for a compelling yarn, Simone knows how to build a news package that engages an audience and conveys a clear message.

This skill set came from more than 7 years as a reporter and producer for 7NEWS, first in the regions then in the metro area. On the production super desk Simone researched, wrote, and edited news stories for a local and national audience, producing live news, rolling coverage, snap press conferences and breaking news bulletins. This extensive experience across multiple news bulletins and under tight deadlines has given Simone a deep understanding of what makes a good TV news story, what the newsroom is looking for when it comes to content and what headlines will resonate with a TV audience. Simone joined Media Stable in 2023 bringing this knowledge of the fast-paced news cycle to her clients. The strong relationships built during her time on station remain firmly intact, and her former colleagues around the country trust her judgement when pitching story ideas.

Media Engagement Manager

Beverly Ligman

Bev started her career as a print journalist on The West Australian’s regional newspapers, then moved to Community Newspapers, now called PerthNow, part of SevenWest Media in Perth.

She’s worked in London, Melbourne and Perth as a successful journalist, writer, PR and communications specialist. She understands the media implicitly because she has worked within it, with more than 25 years’ experience in newspapers and magazines. Bev has also authored a book.

Working with the experienced Media Stable team led by Director John Solvander, Bev guides our experts through the media landscape, supporting them with mentoring, editing, writing and ideas generation. She also helps them find their writing style and the niches they fit into within the ever-evolving media landscape, Bev has a strong focus on lifestyle media.

Bev worked for the British Airways internal communications team in London during the September 11 terrorist attacks and as a PR & media consultant helped brands such as Moët Hennessy, NetJets Europe, Hawaiian and David Jones navigate an ever-changing PR and media landscape.

Media Engagement Manager

Emily Morgan

Emily started her journalism career at WA Business News, covering the community sector, energy sector and small business.

She then moved into feature writing for various glossy magazines and newspaper lift outs around Australia as a freelancer, before joining Media Stable in 2015. Emily’s expertise is in long form writing and editing and working with clients to secure feature stories in major broadsheets and mastheads, and glossy magazines. She took a break from Media Stable in 2018, to pursue a Managing Editor role on a Cathay Pacific publication in Hong Kong, and returned to Media Stable in 2020. Emily now looks after various Media Stable clients across the community sector, health, finance, law and technology and brings her editing expertise to each of them. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, vintage and op-shopping and family time in Perth with her two young kids.