Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9411050029
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN CARMODY THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Iger, 43, was also elected to the board, which was expanded from 13 to 14 members.
The promotion was a foregone conclusion though there had been some speculation it wouldn't happen until the December meeting. He joins chairman and chief executive officer Thomas S. Murphy at the top of the company.
In a separate action Tuesday, Iger named David Westin to succeed him as president of the ABC Television Network Group. Westin, 42, had been president, production. Both appointments are effective immediately, Murphy said.
Westin, a former partner in the Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, joined Cap Cities/ABC in 1991 as vice president and general counsel, responsible for the legal affairs of the corporation, government relations and labor relations.
The general counsel post is considered the short course in learning how to run a network and the onetime summa cum laude Michigan law graduate proved to be ``a very quick study,'' in the words of one ABC executive Tuesday.
He had a leading role in the fight over cable re-regulation and reform of the financial interest and syndication rules, which earned him high marks with the network affiliates - and in 1992 successfully negotiated a contract with the tough National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians union. ``He proved to be a great negotiator,'' the network source said Tuesday.
Westin was promoted to president, production, in 1993, overseeing in-house production of entertainment and children's programs.
Iger, a magna cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, joined the network 20 years ago and moved to ABC Sports in 1976; at the age of 30 he was already negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts with the NFL. He came to the attention of the new Cap Cities owners in 1988 during the Winter Olympics in Calgary, which were dogged by occasional bursts of warm weather. Iger's skills in rescheduling network programming under intense pressure impressed management and by that summer he was promoted to executive vice president of the ABC Television Network Group.
In 1989 he was made president of ABC Entertainment and in 1992, was promoted to president of the Group, in charge of an operation that this year will generate at least $3 billion.
In recent months Iger and Murphy have negotiated major agreements with affiliates and broadcast group owners to successfully hold off challenges for stations in key markets caused by the Fox Broadcasting expansion.
by CNB