Many broadcasters know Michael Chen as President of the Media, Communications & Entertainment unit of GE Capital. Now Chen is becoming a broadcaster himself.
Chen has joined NBC News as President of the Strategic Initiatives Group. In his new position, Chen will be responsible for identifying growth opportunities and will oversee several key news division properties including Education Nation, the NBC Learn Businesses, and many of the NBC News digital investments.
“NBC News has never been stronger, and our opportunities for growth and expansion are tremendous. Michael Chen is exactly the right person to help us with that. He is a world-class executive and the ultimate professional. His insight and experience within the media and education fields will be a tremendous benefit to this news organization,” said Steve Capus, President of NBC News.
RBR-TVBR observation: Chen certainly knows how to analyze media businesses. We would note that this is not entirely new territory for him either – he was already founder and co-Chair of the Peacock Equity Fund, a venture-stage investor in digital media companies that are strategic to NBC Universal. That investment fund has been highly successful for NBCU, both financially and in keeping the company on the cutting edge of new media-related businesses. He also sits on NBCU’s Leadership Council.
And despite his long career in finance dating back to 1985 at IBM, you may be surprised to learn that Chen’s first college degree was a BS in electrical engineering. He then went on to get an MBA in finance.
