After more than 10 years with the national broadcaster, ABC director of audiences and former marketing chief, Leisa Bacon, is leaving on 6 September.

Bacon joined ABC in 2014, joining as inaugural director of audience and marketing before rising to the director of audiences' position in March 2017. Prior to this, she was director of marketing at QPAC for two-and-a-half years. Her resume additionally includes senior marketing roles with Village Roadshow and the Coca-Cola Company.

Bacon has not yet confirmed her next steps, although she noted she has long service leave for the first time in her professional career to date and plans on getting in extended holiday before tackling what's next.

But she said she made the decision to leave on a high, as ABC celebrates being number one for digital news, in BVOD, in TV network reach, celebrating its highest ever third-party reach "and in trust". Bacon was also recognised as the #1 CMO in the former CMO50 list of Australia's most innovative and effective marketing leaders in 2020.

In a statement, ABC noted Bacon's many achievements and contributions over the last decade, noting she's led ABC's marketing and audience teams through a period of great change and transformation as the public broadcaster evolved its digital platforms while remaining committed to delivering high-quality content to the public.

"Tracking rapidly changing audience trends in today's fragmented media landscape has required a creative and data-driven marketing leader and Leisa has met these challenges and delivered significant results," the statement read.

Among these achievements are initiating content collaborations across the ABC, leading the audience launches for the ABC Kids app, ABC listen app, ABC NEWS app, log in to watch on ABC iView and ensuring ABC brands and services have kept pace with the changes in audience expectations. Bacon's tenure took her through spearheading ABC's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring it remained a central source of news, information and entertainment.

"Leisa has been integral in bringing the audiences team together into a truly cross-functional team structure, reinforcing a culture of collaboration and prioritisation across both the team and the broader ABC," the statement continued.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson thanked Bacon for her contribution over the last 10 years, saying she had been a valuable executive and colleague. He pointed to achievements and experience prior to joining the ABC in 2014 bringing a strong understanding of audiences, stakeholder management, marketing, communications, digital, experience design and change management to the organisation.

"Leisa came to the ABC with the task of centralising our marketing and audience requirements to meet changing audience engagement in an increasingly fragmented media market," Anderson remarked. "The ABC needed a sharp and dynamic marketing professional to meet these significant changes in the industry and Leisa has always stepped up to the challenge.

"Leisa has developed and led strategies to ensure the ABC remains relevant to audiences everywhere. She is passionate about the ABC and has been committed to making sure Australians have been aware of the contribution we make to the community through the services that entertain, inform and educate.

"She has been a valuable executive and colleague, and we wish her well for the next stage in an already impressive career."

Bacon's final day is 6 September. In the interim, ABC's marketing leader, Karen Madden, will act as director of audiences while the recruitment process gets underway.

"Since joining the ABC I have always viewed this as the best job in the country. We serve the Australian public, contribute to culture, and literally produce the best content in the country," Bacon said. "I will always be an incredible supporter of the ABC, my amazing Audiences team and my fabulous boss, David Anderson.

"However, all things need to keep evolving. After an incredible 10 years with the ABC, I am going to be leaving on a bit of a career high. We, the ABC, are #1 in digital news, BVOD, TV network reach and trust."