Gray Television announced a streamlined management team that eliminates the COO and RVP positions and creates a team of five managers who will report to Gray CEO Hilton Howell. The five include:
— Nick Waller, who currently RVP for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina, will become SVP of the Mid-Atlantic and South regions. In addition to his current states, Nick will oversee ops in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Nick will continue to manage Gray’s traffic hub in Tallahassee.
— Bob Smith, RVP for Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Nevada, will become SVP of the Midwest and West regions. In addition to his current states, Bob will oversee ops in Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. He also will work with VP and Director of National Sales, Michael Spiesman, to continue expanding our share of national advertising revenue.
— Jason Effinger, RVP for Texas and portions of the Midwest, will become SVP for Media and Technology. In this new role, Jason will oversee all of the media, internet and technology experts and resources that support our stations, including Gray Digital Media, Technology, Production, and the digital media product called Mom’s Everyday, which Jason developed and implemented at television stations owned by Gray and others. Jason also will lead efforts to license certain products and services developed in-house at Gray to other broadcasters.
— Jim Ryan, SVP/Finance and CFO, will continue in this role. As such, Jim will continue to oversee accounting, finance, tax, benefits, and risk management functions at all levels in the company. Jim became Vice President and CFO in October 1998 upon Gray’s acquisition of Busse Broadcasting, where Jim had served as CFO.
— Kevin Latek, our General Counsel, will become SVP/Business Affairs. In addition to his current responsibility for law and strategic development, Kevin will oversee corporate communications and our network and MVPD relationships.
— Charlie Effinger, RVP for portions of the Midwest, will become the Vice President of Corporate Development, responsible for program acquisitions and relationships with the broadcast networks and syndicators, working closely with Corporate Programming Director, Greg Conklin. Charlie also will manage external and internal communications to leverage better the synergies inherent in Gray’s large station footprint. Charlie will report to Kevin Latek.
— Lisa Guill, who has coordinated local production resources, capital projects, technology implementation, and workflow improvements, will become Vice President of Production. In this role, Lisa will continue her support of stations’ production projects and also oversee the Gray Graphics hub. Lisa will report to Jason Effinger.
