The Biggest TV Executive Departures of 2020

As traditional advertising revenue collapsed and consumers flocked to streaming, 2020 has been a big year of change for traditional media’s business models. It’s also meant a lot of executive changes. As part of our annual Year in Review coverage, we took a look at the more than two dozen executive departures—double the 15 we counted in 2019—to give a sense of just how dramatically the TV landscape has shifted in the last 12 tumultuous months. Rich Calacci, Pluto TV The chief revenue officer of ad-supported streamer Pluto TV headed for the exit in mid-January a month after the ViacomCBS merger was finalized. Calacci’s departure was one of several that came as ViacomCBS ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross set her ad sales leadership team. Others departing included Valerie Bischak, Viacom’s evp of ad solutions; Mary Ellen Bottone, Smithsonian Channel’s svp of ad sales; Michael DuPont, Pop TV’s evp of ad sales; Bryson Gordon, Viacom evp of advanced advertising; and David Paschkes, CBS Experiences’ evp and managing director. Bill Abbott, Crown Media Family Networks The president and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks and Hallmark Channel exited the company in late January a month after Hallmark Channel faced heat for pulling ads that depicted a same-sex couple kissing at their wedding at the behest of an anti-LGBT group. The decision to pull the ads led to a #BoycottHallmark campaign stared by wedding planning brand Zola, whose ads had been flagged. Abbott’s position remained empty until August, when Wonya Lucas, the former president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, took over at the top of the company. Randy Freer, Hulu The CEO left the streamer abruptly in late January as Disney looked to further integrate Hulu into its broader streaming operations after assuming full operational control from Comcast in 2019. Kelly Campbell was elevated from chief marketing officer to president in late February. Bob Iger, Disney Iger’s announcement that he would step down as CEO of Disney in February marked the end of an era at the entertainment giant. The announcement came with the news that Bob Chapek, the company’s former chairman of Disney Parks, experiences and products, would take over, just weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic hit—and at a critical moment for Disney+, which fast became the most crucial part of the company’s business. (Iger remains as executive chairman, overseeing the company’s creative endeavors through 2021.) Joe Ianniello, CBS Entertainment Group The longtime president and CEO of the broadcaster’s entertainment group, who had been acting CEO of CBS following Les Moonves’ disgraceful exit in March, left as the executive shakeout from the ViacomCBS merger continued. George Cheeks, the former chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios, headed in to take Ianniello’s place leading CBS Entertainment Group as president and CEO. Brian Lesser, Xandr AT&T’s ad unit Xandr in March saw the unexpected departure of its CEO as the company was losing some external prominence as AT&T pivoted to focus more aggressively on video advertising. Chief business officer Kirk McDonald was named interim head a day later, but he, too, exited Xandr in August. Peter Naylor, Hulu The streaming service’s longtime ad sales chief headed for the exits in April to take on a role at Snap as vp of Americas, as Hulu’s ad sales team faced further integration into Disney and began reporting directly to Disney ad sales chief Rita Ferro. Following his departure, Hulu vp of national ad sales Jim Keller was given more purview—but he would also announce his own exit by year’s end. Andy Lack, NBC News The NBC News Group president left his post in May as part of a broader reorganization at NBCUniversal that gave Cesar Conde oversight of all of the company’s news division, including NBC News, MNSBC and CNBS, as chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. Kevin Mayer, Disney+ The chairman of Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming division resigned from the company abruptly in May to head to video app TikTok as CEO. The move prompted Disney to move its ad sales and media distribution divisions from DTCI to the purview of Disney’s Media Networks group. But Mayer’s new gig didn’t last: He quit TikTok in August amid growing regulatory pressure. Tom Ascheim, Freeform Ascheim stepped down as president of Freeform at the end of June to take a job at WarnerMedia, where he is now heading up Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies as president of global kids, young adults and classics. Ahead of Ascheim’s exit, former Netflix executive Tara Duncan was tapped as the network’s new president. Tricia Melton, Freeform Following Ascheim’s exit from the cable network, Freeform’s svp of marketing, brand, creative and communications followed him out the door. Melton headed to the new Warner Bros. global kids, young adults and classics division to head up marketing and brand strategy, reporting to Ascheim. Brad Schwartz, Pop TV The Pop TV president who oversaw TV Guide Network’s rebrand to Pop TV and brought aboard acclaimed shows like Schitt’s Creek and One Day at a Time ended his tenure at the ViacomCBS-owned network in June after much of the network’s scripted ambitions were dashed. He exited for Audible to become chief content officer. Jackie Lee-Joe, Netflix Netflix’s chief marketing officer was only at the streaming service for a year before leaving, the company announced in June. She was replaced by marketing powerhouse Bozoma Saint John, who took over as chief marketing officer beginning in August. Randall Stephenson, AT&T AT&T’s chairman and CEO, who oversaw the enormous acquisition of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), retired effective July 1, exiting soon after the launch of HBO Max and right as Covid-19 was decimating TV ad revenue. President and COO John Stankey succeeded him, taking the helm at an extraordinarily challenging and transformative business moment for the telecom and entertainment giant. Sarah Barnett, AMC Networks The AMC Networks Entertainment Group president announced in July that she would be leaving the company after Labor Day. Barnett, who had been with the company since 2008, said it was “the right time for me to follow my curiosity.” Her replacement hasn’t yet been named, and in the interim the networks are reporting to chief operating officer Ed Carroll. Paul Telegdy, NBC The chairman of NBC Entertainment exited in August as part of a major NBCUniversal reorganization and overhaul that streamlined the company’s operations and centered its business on its new streaming priorities. With Telegdy’s exit, there’s no longer a dedicated network chief, although Frances Berwick was promoted to head up the new Entertainment Business unit to oversee all programming and strategy across both cable and broadcast. Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly, WarnerMedia A day after NBCUniversal announced its streaming-centric overhaul, WarnerMedia followed up with its own restructure. That came with the departure of Greenblatt, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer’s chairman, and Reilly, the chief content officer of HBO Max and head of TNT, TBS and truTV. As two of WarnerMedia’s highest ranking execs headed out the door, HBO programming president Casey Bloys and Otter Media CEO Tony Goncalves got expanded roles at the company. Ron Meyer, NBCUniversal The vice chairman of NBCUniversal, who had been with the company for 25 years, abruptly resigned in mid-August, but it wasn’t due to the restructure earlier that month. The unceremonious departure came after he disclosed that he had reached a settlement with a woman outside of the company with whom he had once had an extramarital affair, and that “other parties” were attempting to extort him and falsely implicate NBCUniversal in the matter. Kirk McDonald, Xandr After stepping in as interim head following Brian Lesser’s March departure, McDonald in August headed over to WPP’s media investment arm GroupM as North America CEO. Xandr evp of product and business development Mike Welch, a longtime AT&T exec, is now heading up the ad unit. Cindy Holland, Netflix Netflix’s longtime vp of original content and two-decade executive headed for the exits in September after newly appointed co-CEO Ted Sarandos made a move to streamline the television operations at the streaming giant. Netflix vp of local language originals Bela Bajaria was elevated to vice president of global TV, where she was put in charge of overseeing all television projects. Chris McCumber, NBCUniversal The president of USA Network and Syfy, who had been with the broadcaster for two decades, in September left NBCUniversal in the aftermath of the company’s August reorganization that created horizontally integrated units instead of network-specific teams. Chris Spadaccini, WarnerMedia WarnerMedia Entertainment’s chief marketing officer departed in late September after just over a year in the top marketing post and several months after the tepid debut of HBO Max in May. The longtime entertainment marketing executive had overseen high-profile HBO branding campaigns, and had been with the company for more than 20 years. Susan Rovner, Warner Bros. The president of Warner Bros. TV headed to a new role at NBCUniversal, where she is tasked with heading up entertainment content for all platforms as chairman of entertainment content, NBCUniversal television and streaming. She had been seen as the likely successor to longtime Warner Bros. Television Group president and chief content officer Peter Roth. Peter Roth, Warner Bros. After 22 years, the longtime chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and chief content officer announced he would leave his post at the beginning of 2021. Three days later, his successor was announced: former ABC Entertainment president and Netflix TV executive Channing Dungey will take over as chair, overseeing new television projects for all TV properties and for HBO Max. Marc DeBevoise, ViacomCBS ViacomCBS’s digital officer and head of CBS All Access, CBSN and CBS Sports HQ exited the company in October as part of another leadership overhaul. In his stead, Pluto TV CEO Tom Ryan was tapped to head up all of ViacomCBS’ free and paid streaming services as president and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming. Pierluigi Gazzolo, the current president and streaming and studios at ViacomCBS’ international arm, also headed for the exits. Marc Juris, WE tv The president and general manager of WE tv announced in October that he would exit the network at the end of the year, marking another empty post at the top of AMC Networks. A month later, UMC chief content officer Brett Dismuke was given oversight of the cable network as general manager of both UMC and WE tv. Jacqueline Parkes, ViacomCBS The chief marketing officer of ViacomCBS’ Entertainment and Youth Group and evp of digital studios said in November that she would leave at the end of the year to spend more time with her family. She had been with the company for five years leading marketing for networks like CMT, MTV and VH1, along with Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land following the ViacomCBS merger in 2019. Karey Burke, ABC The ABC Entertainment president didn’t head for the exits in December but instead headed to a different role within the company: She is now heading up all of 20th Television as president. Hulu’s original programming chief Craig Erwich, meanwhile, is now president at ABC Entertainment, while continuing to oversee Hulu originals. Jim Keller, Hulu After being tapped to take on more responsibilities at Hulu’s ad sales team earlier in the year, Keller headed to another company working on streaming: Discovery, which is planning to unveil streamer Discovery+ in early January. Keller joined Discovery as evp of digital ad sales and advanced advertising, heading up all strategic development of all U.S. digital ad sales.