Nigel Milan’s early departure as head of SBS leaves a big gap to be filled by a board which clearly doesn’t have a succession plan in place.

The head of SBS TV, Shaun Brown, is acting managing director until a replacement is found – and he could do worse than throw his hat in the ring, considering that he knows more about his area of operations than any of the board (and that includes board member Gerald Stone) and other executives. Brown has been a bit of an unsettling influence, but he does know something about TV and according to SBS people that puts him ahead of another contender, Quang Luu , the current head of Radio. He’s tried in the past to grab the top job, using his political skills and his reputation as a “professional ethnic.”

But SBS insiders say Luu knows little about radio and knows little about managing staff. In fact, he’s had a problem with many of his managers over the past few years. These have included:

Raymond Moti, Sydney radio Station Manager: left after been moved from his position to undertake a “ community liaison” role.

Peter Wall, the Moti replacement: couldn’t get changes through: exited, frustrated.

Olya Booyer, Wall replacement: couldn’t get changes through, exited frustrated. Since Booyer there has been a succession of people rolling through the position with no prospect of a resolution in many months. Staff are asking if the position will be advertised externally this time.

Rob Minshull, Sydney Program Manager: exited, frustrated.

Themi Kallos, Sydney Program Manager: exited, frustrated.

Aynur Cagli, Melbourne Program Manager: exited, frustrated.

Mark Cash, Melbourne Operations Manger: exited, frustrated.

David Ingram, Training Manager: frustrated, tried to move to TV unsuccessfully.

This leaves only four radio executive positions unaffected, a dreadful record in looking after your executives, by any measure.