Sinclair, Inc.’s Chief Financial Officer Lucy Rutishauser is stepping away from the role after nearly three decades, the broadcaster announced on Monday.
Rutishauser will help the company look for her successor — which will include current executives and employees, as well as external candidates — and then retire later this year, Sinclair said. Upon her retirement, she will remain at Sinclair in a senior advisory role.
Rutishauser has spent her entire television broadcasting career at Sinclair, joining in 1998 as the Vice President of Corporate Finance and undergoing several promotions before being appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the broadcaster five years ago.
“This has been an incredibly rewarding journey for me, and I am excited to focus on family and the next chapter of my career of board service and advisory,” Rutishauser said on Monday. “I am grateful to have been a part of the team that grew Sinclair into the leader it is today, and for the amazing opportunities along the way. While we have accomplished much over the years, the Company is far from being done. Sinclair has a bright future ahead with multiple industry-leading and value-creating initiatives and support from a strong financial position and passionate and creative employees. While I may be ‘retiring,’ I look forward to supporting the next CFO and contributing thoughtful insights to the Company in a senior advisory role.”
“Lucy has been an invaluable part of our team who has seen it all. She helped lead us through multiple industry consolidations and navigated through the Great Recession, the pandemic and a cybersecurity ransomware incident,” David Smith, the Executive Chairman of Sinclair and Chairman of its Board, said in a statement. “Lucy has clearly communicated and explained our value proposition to Wall Street investors and successfully managed complex capital market transactions that gave us the flexibility to grow and transform the Company. Lucy is an engaged leader with an incredible work ethic. We appreciate her many contributions over the past 26 years that helped position us as an industry leader.”
“We have been fortunate to have someone of Lucy’s caliber as part of our Executive team. She is well-known and respected in the financial community, having been the face of the Company with Wall Street during her career. Lucy has ensured that the Company is well-funded for the future, having just completed an almost $4 billion comprehensive restructuring of our balance sheet. She has been a mentor and a strong leader to the organization who not only developed a best-in-class financial team but also continuously educates herself,” Chris Ripley, Sinclair’s CEO, said on Monday. “Her focus on fiscal responsibility, as well as her approach to continuously challenge our business leaders and staff to ask questions, dig deeper, and innovate have not only raised their level of thinking, problem-solving skills and financial acumen; but more importantly have grown our bottom line. Lucy has graciously offered to continue with us through the transition of the next CFO and thereafter in a senior advisory role.”
Sinclair operates more than 180 television stations in 86 markets across the country, as well as multicast networks Comet, Charge, TBD (soon Roar) and The Nest, the international pay TV network Tennis Channel and free streaming channel T2. It also owns the free, ad-supported streaming news service NewsOn.
