University of Malta vice-rector Carmen Sammut has resigned from her position as chairman of the board of directors of the Public Broadcasting Authority, while Mark Sammut will be its first executive chairman. 

In a statement announcing the changes this evening, the government thanked Sammut for her contribution to the formulation of a “renewal plan” for the public broadcaster. She was appointed chairman of the board in September 2020. 

New executive chairman Mark Sammut has a background in management, process engineering and implementation. He is also the husband of Health Minister’s Chris Fearne’s former chief of staff, who was forced to resign in January 2020 over a potential conflict of interest involving her husband. 

Now that PBS’ renewal plan had been approved, it was time to start implementing the necessary changes, the government said. 

In view of this, it said that the role of Chief Executive Officer would be scrapped with some of the role’s responsibilities being transferred to the new executive chairman. 

The present CEO Charles Dalli will be taking on the role of Chief Operations Officer responsible for research, innovation and internationalisation. This role, the government said, was needed to increase investment and to speed up the modernisation of the national broadcaster. 

Minister Carmelo Abela, who is politically responsible for the PBS, congratulated Mark Sammut for his appointment, adding that he would be instrumental for the PBS. 

Abela also thanked Carmen Sammut who worked on, and brought the PBS’ regeneration plan to its present point. Her experience and knowledge of the sector would remain needed, Abela was quoted as saying.

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