NBC Universal is shuffling its deck following the departure of three top executives in the past few weeks. The company has brought over GE executive Michael Pilot to be President of Ad Sales and has expanded the responsibilities of several other senior executives within the TV group -- namely stations chief Jay Ireland and NBCU TV West Coast President Marc Graboff -- to help fill the void.
Pilot, who was previously President/CEO of GE Commercial Finance's Equipment Finance Group, joins after NBC U's Sales/Marketing President Keith Turner announced his departure last week after nearly 20 years with the company. Pilot has been a GE officer since 2002. Reporting to him will be Edward Swindler, who has been promoted to a new position as Chief Operating Officer of the sales division.
Getting a big bump up is NBCU stations chief Jay Ireland, who adds to his purview oversight of Telemundo; NBC network affiliate relations; and NBC network operations. These three groups formerly reported to Randy Falco who left his position as NBCU TV Group President/COO to join AOL.
Ireland, now reporting to NBC U Group Chief Jeff Zucker, will also now oversee domestic first-run syndication of TV programming, previously handled by former NBCU Cable and Domestic TV and New Media Distribution President David Zaslav, who left the company to oversee Discovery. Other of Zaslav's duties have yet to be distributed.
The changes come as NBC regroups after company veterans Falco, Zaslav and Turner each announced they were leaving in quick succession. Industry chatter subsequently predicted a major internal reorganization that could eventually see Zucker rising to replace Bob Wright.
Also helping fill Zaslav's duties is Marc Graboff, President, NBC U TV, West Coast, who add oversight of Domestic TV Distribution to his duties. Reporting to him will be Domestic TV Distribution President Barry Wallach. Wallach, who also manages domestic first-run syndication, will report to Ireland on that front.
Separately, John Eck, President, Media Works/Chief Information Officer, NBC U will now report to Wright, as will EVP, Business Development Bruce Campbell. Both had formerly reported to Falco. Communications EVP Cory Shields, who had reported to digital chief Beth Comstock, will now report to Wright.
Under the new setup, Telemundo network President Don Browne, NBC network affiliate relations EVP John Damiano and NBC network operations SVP John DeWald, report to Ireland. Also, now reporting to Browne is Telemundo stations group President Ibra Morales.
