The Guardian’s chief customer officer Anna Bateson to depart

Anna Bateson is stepping down as Guardian News & Media’s chief customer officer after three years in the role.

Bateson, who joined the publisher from Charlotte Tilbury in 2016, has been heavily involved in The Guardian’s move towards supporter-led journalism, and led its rebrand and redesign in 2018. She also stepped to the CEO role on an interim basis after the departure of David Pemsel.

“As chief customer officer Anna Bateson has been an integral member of the Guardian executive committee over the last few years,” says a spokesperson for GNM.

“She leaves with an excellent track record having grown our reader revenues business significantly, and led the company as interim chief executive for three months. We wish her the very best in her future career.”

Bateson’s replacement will be announced in due course. Guardian Media Group’s chief executive Annette Thomas will take on management of the brand and reader revenues team on an interim basis.

Bateson leaves the publisher in good health, with revenues at their highest level for a decade.

There were 821,000 readers making regular monthly contributions at the end of March, up by a quarter over the past year, driven by new subscribers to the company’s apps and continuing financial contributions from readers.

When one-off donations were included, at least 1.16 million people around the world financially supported The Guardian in some way during the last financial year.

The Guardian became the first major publisher to ban all ads from oil and gas companies earlier this year as part of its strategy to become a “more purposeful organisation” and be carbon neutral by 2030.