David Leckie

David John Leckie (4 May 195120 July 2021) was an Australian media manager, best known as a network television executive. Leckie was the chief executive officer of the Nine Network between 1990 and 2001 and Seven West Media from 2003 to 2012. Afterwards he was for four years an executive director at Seven Group Holdings, which holds investments in Seven West, earthmoving company WesTrac and the Agricultural Bank of China.

Early life and education Leckie was born in Sydney on 4 May 1951. His father, Ron, was head of the transport division at Unilever having served in the Royal Australian Air Force's 31st Squadron from 1942-1946 where he met his mother Joyce, who served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force. He was their first child, He then studied at Macquarie University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in economic and financial studies. Afterwards he travelled around Europe, where he also worked for Saatchi & Saatchi in London. Leckie focused on news and sports and under his leadership the network spent all but six weeks atop the television ratings for the next decade. Nine's dominance over its rivals began to diminish in 2001, when the new ratings system OzTAM, the implementation of which he was instrumental, was established. In January 2002 he was dismissed. He was succeeded by John Alexander and Ian Johnson, who took Nine back to the lead inside six months.

In January 2001 he was appointed for a four-year period as a trustee of the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust.

Leckie joined the Seven Network in April 2003 at the invitation of Kerry Stokes. He was joined by former Nine program director John Stephens and former Nine head-of-news Peter Meakin. Although it struggled during his first several months at the helm – culminating with a 13-year low in audience share in 2004 – the network's fortunes rebounded after it agreed an output deal with the Walt Disney Company. This enabled Seven to broadcast popular American shows in 2005, such as Desperate Housewives and Lost. A key part of Leckie's success was differentiating the network from Nine, appealing instead to a more casual, suburban audience. He was brought out of retirement in March 2020 to serve as an executive mentor, including to his protege James Warburton.

Leckie died surrounded by family on the morning of 20 July 2021 in Robertson, New South Wales. He was 70 and had suffered from a lengthy illness prior to his death.