JUST IN: Chris Licht Announces Key CNN Leadership Team Change With New COO
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery
CNN CEO Chris Licht has announced David Leavy is joining his leadership team as the new Chief Operations Officer helping the cable news network navigate current challenges. Licht broke the news on CNN’s 9 a.m. editorial call Thursday.
Leavy is a veteran television executive and will move to CNN from Warner Bros Discovery, where he is currently serving as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. In his role as COO, Leavy will oversee sales, promotions, and operations — creating a managerial layer between the CEO and several corporate heads which will ostensibly allow Licht to focus more on programming and digital.
Since taking over as CEO just over a year ago, Licht has repositioned CNN to focus more on news and less on punditry. However, that has come with a precipitous dip in ratings as America appears to be more interested in punditry than news.
The newly-announced COO comes on the same day that CNN launched a new on-air identity. The network has recently suffered historically low ratings and is still recovering from external and internal backlash over a Trump Town Hall, which appeared to unite a divided nation in anger despite generating dozens of headlines.
Read CNN’s press release below:
NEW YORK, NY – (June 1, 2023) – Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, today announced the appointment of David C. Leavy as Chief Operating Officer of CNN Worldwide, effective June 20, 2023.
A 23-year veteran of Discovery Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery, Leavy will assume responsibility over commercial, operational and promotional activities across CNN Worldwide, reporting into Licht.
“David’s deep operational experience, institutional knowledge and key industry relationships perfectly complements the strengths of our leadership team,” said Licht. “He is a strategic, versatile and dynamic executive who will work with myself and the senior leadership team to help transform our business as we get the full programming slate on the air, build out our digital future and grow the CNN brand around the world. Everyone who works with David has seen how his energy, work ethic and collaborative style positively impacts an organization, and I can’t wait for him to join me and the CNN team.”
Leavy currently serves as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery and will maintain public policy and social responsibility oversight on behalf of Warner Bros Discovery going forward.
Most recently, Leavy served as Chief Corporate Operations Officer, Discovery, Inc., where he was instrumental in many of the company’s most significant strategic initiatives, including the successful launch of discovery+ in 2021; the company’s public listing on the NASDAQ exchange in 2008; its agreement to acquire Scripps Networks Interactive in 2018; and Discovery and Eurosport’s agreement for rights to the Olympic Games across Europe. Prior to joining Discovery, Leavy served as Chief Spokesman and Senior Director of Public Affairs for the National Security Council and as Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Clinton White House. Leavy sits on the boards of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He is a graduate of Colby College and the Salisbury School, where he now serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees.
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