The E. W. Scripps Company is eliminating its Chief Operating Officer role, a move that will see the departure of current COO Lisa Knutson, The Desk has confirmed.
Knutson will remain at Scripps through the end of the year as part of a transitional phase, Scripps CEO Adam Symson said in a note sent to employees Monday afternoon. A town hall with employees will be held on August 15, during which Symson will further address organizational changes at the company.
“Over the past 18 years, Lisa has been a guiding voice and a steady hand in nearly every major decision Scripps has made, from the 2008 split with Scripps Networks Interactive to the expansion of our local media footprint, the acquisition of ION and the creation of a new Scripps Networks portfolio,” Symson wrote in the memo. “Lisa’s tenure at Scripps exemplifies the kind of adventure through internal mobility that we champion. First joining the company in 2005 to oversee HR operations, Lisa subsequently served as chief administrative officer, chief financial officer, president of Scripps Networks and finally our chief operating officer. Her influence has been felt far and wide, both through her business leadership and by the way she leads, having served as mentor and coach to many across our company.”
Symson said Knutson has been “an invaluable partner to me in nearly every role I have held at Scripps. During the most difficult periods of my own tenure as CEO, having Lisa on our team has meant having a thought partner I could count on to candidly challenge me to look at things from different perspectives in order to be a better leader for this company. I will forever be grateful for her mentorship, counsel and friendship.”
From this point forward, Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs will oversee distribution and the enterprise strategy teams at Scripps, in addition to financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax and other responsibilities. Chief Marketing Officer Keisha Taylor Starr will oversee Scripps’ networks portfolio as a general manager, in addition to her other duties, while Senior Vice President of Local Media Dean Littleton will expand his role to include streaming and digital initiatives, along with local and networks engineering operations.
The changes will also see Beth Welter taking on the role of Chief of Staff, supporting Symson and various initiative at Scripps.
The full email from Symson is below:
Colleagues:
Today, I am announcing the elimination of the chief operating officer role, effective Dec. 31.
When I asked Lisa Knutson to be chief operating officer in 2022, her role was to combine our businesses into one media operation, setting us up for success today and into the future. Now that she has completed that work, we are preparing for our next chapter by considering how our company is organized, especially as the media landscape continues to evolve and new challenges are brought to our doorstep.
Lisa will stay with Scripps through this transition until the end of this year.
Over the past 18 years, Lisa has been a guiding voice and a steady hand in nearly every major decision Scripps has made, from the 2008 split with Scripps Networks Interactive to the expansion of our local media footprint, the acquisition of ION and the creation of a new Scripps Networks portfolio. Lisa’s tenure at Scripps exemplifies the kind of adventure through internal mobility that we champion. First joining the company in 2005 to oversee HR operations, Lisa subsequently served as chief administrative officer, chief financial officer, president of Scripps Networks and finally our chief operating officer. Her influence has been felt far and wide, both through her business leadership and by the way she leads, having served as mentor and coach to many across our company.
Personally, Lisa has been an invaluable partner to me in nearly every role I have held at Scripps. During the most difficult periods of my own tenure as CEO, having Lisa on our team has meant having a thought partner I could count on to candidly challenge me to look at things from different perspectives in order to be a better leader for this company. I will forever be grateful for her mentorship, counsel and friendship.
With this move, effective immediately, the following changes will take place within our leadership team.
-
- Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs will oversee distribution and the enterprise strategy team in addition to financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax and treasury, corporate development, and risk and business continuity. Jason brings financial rigor and oversight to our current largest revenue item (retransmission revenue) and to emerging business opportunities with Tablo and ATSC 3.0/datacasting.
- Chief Marketing Officer Keisha Taylor Starr will take on the additional role of general manager of our networks portfolio, assuming responsibility for our programming strategy and execution. She will lead our efforts to gain, engage and retain our audiences.
- Dean Littleton, senior vice president of local media, will expand his role to include streaming and digital as well as local and networks engineering and operations.
- Chief Administrative Officer Laura Tomlin assumes a new title and role as chief transformation officer and will oversee all functions focused on people, process, artificial intelligence and technology. This new team will help reimagine our systems and culture so we can position Scripps for longevity.
- Beth Welter has been named chief of staff, supporting me and shepherding some of the company’s most important initiatives as well as leading strategic planning, program management and change management. She will report to Laura Tomlin.
- Until the end of the year, Keisha, Dean and Brian Norris, chief revenue officer, will continue to report to Lisa. Frank Friedman, senior vice president of data, insights and research, will report to Lisa through Dec. 31, then Frank and his team will report to Keisha.
Join me on the Aug. 15 all-employee town hall, where we will address these organizational changes.
Adam Symson (he/him)
President and CEO
