Dick Lobo has announced he will retire Nov. 30 as director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) International Broadcasting Bureau.
The veteran commercial and noncommercial TV station executive was nominated to the post by President Obama in 2010 and will have been the IBB's longest-serving director.
Lobo was literally the author of his own exit. "The proposed implementation of the plan, which I helped formulate, to create the position of CEO and to subsequently abolish the IBB Director's position creates the ideal time for me to step aside," Lobo said in a resignation letter to the President. "After more than five decades in broadcasting, I intend to retire and return to my native state of Florida."
BBG board chair and chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Jeff Shell praised Lobo for managing through the government shut-down and through ongoing tightening budgets, as well as streamlining the agency. Lobo also helped ramp up digital efforts.
IBB manages the transmission system, including satellite leases and fiber optics, for BBG's international services, which include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).
Lobo was also liaison between the board and other agencies. He was asked to remain.
Before taking over at IBB, Lobo was president and CEO of noncommercial WEDU Tampa-St. Petersburg and before that was president of WTVJ TV Miami. Before that he was station manager of WNBC-TV New York and held other NBC station posts.
