NBC CEO Bob Wright to give address at LSU's 247th commencement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 26, 2002
BATON ROUGE -- Bob Wright, chairman and chief executive officer of the National Broadcasting Company, and vice chairman of the board, executive officer and a member of the Corporate Executive Office of General Electric, will deliver the commencement address at the 247th LSU commencement exercises on May 24 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Wright joined NBC as president and CEO in September of 1986 after serving as president of Cox Cable Communications and later General Electric Financial Services. In June of 2001, Wright became chairman and CEO, furthering one of the longest and most successful tenures of any network chief executive. Under his leadership, NBC's earnings have increased nearly 300 percent while revenue has more than doubled. He has also led the network through its transition into a global, multimedia company by extending into cable, international and multi-media markets.
NBC owns CNBC, which during Wright's tenure has become the global leader in business news, providing real-time financial-market information to more than 82 million households in the United States and 198 million homes worldwide. In addition, five years after its launch, MSNBC, NBC's joint venture with Microsoft, reaches 73 million cable subscribers in the United States. Including its equity stakes in the A&E Network, the History Channel, ValueVision's home shopping network and Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings Inc., NBC has partial ownership of more than a dozen cable networks.
On a more personal level, Wright has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Steven J. Ross Humanitarian of the Year award from the UJA-Federation of New York and the Gold Medal Award from the International Radio and Television Society Foundation. He has also been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
Wright serves on the boards of trustees of the American Film Institute and the Museum of Television and Radio, as well as the boards of directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Corporation and the Cancer Research Fund of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation. He is an honorary trustee of the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television and is on the board of governors of New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Wright is a graduate and trustee of the College of the Holy Cross, and received his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
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Contact Josh DuplechainLSU Media Relations225 578-5685[email protected]
n:Apr02wright.jd
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