Michelle Guthrie has vowed to use her position as the ABC's first female managing director to create a more diverse public broadcaster, with greater representation of women and multicultural communities.

In an email to staff on her first official day in the job, Ms Guthrie said the ABC must "extend our reach and our relevance into areas where we are under-represented", which "means more diversity in both our staff and our content".

Before departing the job after 10 years, former boss Mark Scott described himself as a "grey man in his 50s", and said one of his regrets was that the ABC still did not reflect the ethnic diversity of modern Australia.