Rick Feldman, NATPE's president and CEO, will transition from his post on April 30, say NATPE co-chairs Generate's Jordan Levin and Electus' Chris Grant. Feldman has contracted to serve as a consultant to the organization for the next three years.
"We deeply appreciate the contributions Rick has made to NATPE, including his work most recently on our very successful Miami Conference, which grew in all key categories for the second year in a row," said Levin in a statement. "His knowledge and experience will continue to be put to good use as a consultant to the person we select and to the organization as a whole."
Los Angeles-based NATPE has hired Korn Ferry to find a new executive to run the organization, a search with which Feldman will assist.
Feldman has been running NATPE since April 2003, when he joined from USA Broadcasting, where he was executive VP and chief operating officer overseeing a group of four stations. Prior to that, Feldman spent 16 years at KCOP Los Angeles, where he rose from general sales manager to president and general manager. Feldman also was a vice president and sales manager for New York-based Metromedia and a promotion manager for WJZ Baltimore. He began his career as a media buyer at Ted Bates Advertising in New York.
"I am very proud of what I have accomplished during my time as CEO of NATPE," said Feldman. "We have expanded our programs, improved our financial position, enhanced our brand internationally, integrated the digital world and brought new life to our organization with our move to Miami. I look forward to working with the person who will replace me and with the organization as a consultant in the years ahead."
Next year, NATPE will celebrate its 50th anniversary at its conference, which for the third year in a row will be held at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach. Over the course of nine years, Feldman is credited with revitalizing NATPE after it struggled with the changes brought on by consolidation and fractionalization in the television industry.
While NATPE remains a marketplace to buy and sell programming, it now serves the international, cable, satellite, VOD, digital and mobile communities, where it once was a conference that focused on domestic syndication. NATPE also has expanded its reach into Budapest and Africa, via NATPE's acquisition of DISCOP East in June 2011 and its partnership with Los Angeles-based Basic Lead, which has been in place since 2005.
"Our goal now is to find an individual who can oversee the proposed plans we have for our 50th Anniversary celebration and can help implement the ideas we have discussed to grow NATPE and solidify its position as the premier content association in the world across all platforms, both traditional and emerging," said Grant in a statement.
