Pat Fili-Krushel, named chairman of the NBCUniversal News group in July, which oversees NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC and The Weather Channel is adding to her executive team — including three women and three top CNBC executives to new roles. Kathy Kelly-Brown joins as SVP of Communications. She had been SVP of Corporate and Media Relations for NBCUniversal. Joanne O’Brien joins as SVP of Human Resources. She had been SVP of HR CNBC. Elisabeth Sami joins as SVP of Strategy & Business Development. Sami also joins from CNBC where she was SVP of Global Business Development. And another CNBCer, K.C. Sullivan, joins as SVP and CFO. He was CFO at CNBC.
In other transition news, Kevin Lord who had been EVP of Human Resources for NBC News has joined Gannett as Chief Human Resources Officer. A longtime NBC/GE employee, Lord led the Human Resources transition when Comcast acquired NBCUniversal. Lord joins another NBC alum at Gannett, Jeremy Gaines who left his job as head of media relations at MSNBC for head of Corporate Communications at Gannett in April.
Fili-Krushel’s note to staff after the jump…
From: Fili-Krushel, Pat (NBCUniversal)
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 11:55 AM
Subject: NBCUniversal News Group Announcement
When we announced the creation of our News Group in July, the goal was to formally align a group of properties that already worked well together with the hope we can take it to the next level.
With that in mind, I’ve asked four people to join our team, at the business group level, in four distinct functions – Communications, Human Resources, Strategy & Business Development and Finance. This group will help me, in collaboration with Steve Capus, Phil Griffin and Mark Hoffman, identify strategic opportunities for our news portfolio and enhance the way our team works together.
They are:
Kathy Kelly-Brown joins as Senior Vice President, Communications, NBCUniversal News Group. Most recently, Kathy served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, NBCUniversal where she worked closely with Adam Miller, Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal on the overall communications strategy for the company. She led the corporate communications team responsible for areas including broadcast and entertainment cable ad sales, government affairs and internal communications. Additionally, she developed and led the company’s internal and external communications plans surrounding Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal.
Joanne O’Brien joins as Senior Vice President, Human Resources, NBCUniversal News Group. Joanne spent the last four years as SVP HR CNBC where she led HR for CNBC globally. During her time at CNBC she played a key role in executing business priorities including building out CNBC’s Digital business, creating a primetime organization, developing an International structure for CNBC in EMEA and Asia Pacific and supporting Business News initiatives. Prior to joining CNBC Joanne spent 10 years at GE in various HR roles. From 2004 she was VP Organization, Staffing and Development for GE Money Americas where she was responsible for a wide range of HR activity including talent management, organization effectiveness, staffing, learning and development, M&A and divestitures and restructuring.
Elisabeth Sami joins as Senior Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, NBCUniversal News Group. Previously, Elisabeth served as Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, CNBC where she was responsible for driving growth at CNBC through organic initiatives, strategic partnerships and investments on a global basis, including overseeing CNBC’s digital distribution, new platform initiatives and served as a strategic partner to Mark Hoffman. Before joining CNBC in 2005, Elisabeth held various positions at the company, most recently as Vice President of Business Development for NBC Universal where, among other accomplishments, she was responsible for restructuring the MSNBC Cable joint venture with Microsoft.
K.C. Sullivan joins as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, NBCUniversal News Group. K.C. comes to this group from CNBC where he served as their Chief Financial Officer responsible for leading the finance operation globally for CNBC in addition to being the interim Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to joining CNBC in 2009, he served as Global Supply Chain Finance Manager for GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics based in London, England where he was responsible for financial leadership of more than 20 manufacturing sites globally. K.C. joined GE Healthcare’s Medical Diagnostics business in 2006 as the Global Financial Planning & Analysis Manager.
I have asked David Pietrycha, CFO of NBC News and MSNBC to support the transition by identifying strategic opportunities to grow revenue and to drive operating synergies across the News Group.
As announced yesterday, we will be losing a valuable member of our Human Resources team. Kevin Lord, Executive Vice President Human Resources for NBC News leaves us to join Gannett as their Chief Human Resources Officer. Kevin joined General Electric 15 years ago and spent the last 5 years with NBC Universal. In addition to his role with NBC News, Kevin did an exceptional job leading the Human Resources transition team when Comcast acquired NBCUniversal. I want to thank him for his many contributions over the years. He will be greatly missed.
Kathy, Jo, Elisabeth and K.C. will be transitioning into their roles over the coming weeks. I hope you will join me in welcoming them to the News Group and in wishing Kevin best of luck in his new endeavor.
Pat