The chief executive of PA is to step down from his role with the national press agency after 14 years in charge, it was announced today.

Clive Marshall, who started out in the regional press, is retiring after 45 years in media.

After beginning his career in the advertising department of the Southport Visiter, Clive, pictured, was CEO of Australian Associated Press for 10 years and was also PA’s commercial director between 1993 and 2000.

Under his watch, PA has transformed into an international business with a turnover of more than £110m.

The 65-year-old said: “It’s been a privilege to lead the PA Media Group over these past 14 years with the support of my hugely talented colleagues and, despite all the challenges our industry faces, build such a successful news and information business.

“This has been a tough decision but it’s time for me to retire from this full-time role and spend more time ticking off the dozens of Scottish Munro mountains I still have left to climb.

“PA has been such an important part of my working life. Its role as a lynchpin and innovator in an ever-changing media industry will continue to be critical.

“I’ll keep driving this brilliant business forward in the months ahead and oversee the smooth transition to new leadership.”

Clive will continue as non-executive chairman of NLA media access, as PA’s representative on the Nomination Committee of the Thomson Reuters Trust and as a Trustee of the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation following his retirement.

PA Media Group chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: “Clive has been an outstanding leader, steering the company through a challenging media landscape with commercial vision and formidable determination. He will leave the company in great shape and with our sincere gratitude.”