iHeartMedia has announced the seven people who will serve on their Board of Directors upon its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO/CFO Rich Bressler will remain in their positions. Former Disney SVP/CFO Jay Rasulo will serve as Lead Independent Director. The remainder of the board will be made up of former MGM Chairman/CEO Gary Barber, Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner, private investor Sean Mahoney, and Drawbridge CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan.
Their appointments are pending confirmation of iHeartMedia’s current reorganization plan.
iHeartMedia, the leading audio company in America which has a greater reach in the U.S. than any other media outlet, announced today the members selected to serve on its Board of Directors upon its emergence from Chapter 11.
Subject to confirmation of the Company’s Plan of Reorganization, the post-emergence Board will consist of the following Directors, all of whom possess highly relevant knowledge and experience critical to positioning the company for future success:
Bob Pittman, Chairman of the Board of Directors: Mr. Pittman is the current CEO and Board Chairman of iHeartMedia. Mr. Pittman was formerly COO of AOL Time Warner, Inc. after serving as President and COO of America Online, Inc. Mr. Pittman also served as the CEO of MTV Networks and was the Cofounder and programmer who led the team that created MTV.
Jay Rasulo, Lead Independent Director: Mr. Rasulo was formerly an executive at Walt Disney Company from 1986 through 2015, having spent his last five years at Disney as the CFO and Senior Executive Vice President. During his tenure at Walt Disney, among other roles, he served as the Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Mr. Rasulo is a graduate of Columbia University and received his MA & MBA from the University of Chicago.
Gary Barber: Mr. Barber served as the Chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) from 2010 through March 2018. Prior to his role at MGM, he was the Cofounder of Spyglass Entertainment, which he founded in 1998. Mr. Barber received his undergraduate and post graduate degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Rich Bressler: Mr. Bressler is the current President, COO and CFO of iHeartMedia. Before joining iHeart, Mr. Bressler was a Managing Director at THL. Prior to joining THL, Mr. Bressler’s experience included serving as Senior Executive Vice President and CFO of Viacom, Inc., as Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Digital Media, and as Executive Vice President and CFO of Time Warner Inc.
Brad Gerstner: Mr. Gerstner is the Founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, an internet, software, and travel focused investment firm founded in 2008. Prior to launching Altimeter, Mr. Gerstner was the Cofounder of three internet search start-ups. Mr. Gerstner received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Sean Mahoney: Mr. Mahoney is a private investor. He currently serves as a director at two public companies, Aptiv plc and Arconic Inc., and at post-bankruptcy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. His prior board service includes Delphi Automotive plc and Formula One Holdings. Mr. Mahoney was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he headed the Financial Sponsors Group, and Vice Chairman, Global Banking, at Deutsche Bank Securities. Mr. Mahoney is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Oxford University (which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship).
Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan: Ms. Sivaramakrishnan is the founder and CEO of Drawbridge, a company focused on designing quantitative algorithms for numerous areas, including computational advertising. Prior to founding Drawbridge, Ms. Sivaramakrishnan was a Senior Research Scientist at AdMob which was acquired by Google in 2010. Ms. Sivaramakrishnan has her Ph.D. from Stanford University.
“We are excited about both the depth and range of our new Board members,” said Pittman. “We know our ability to draw on the experience of this unique combination of leaders in their respective fields will give us an unparalleled competitive advantage as we build our next level of growth.”
iHeartMedia’s current Board of Directors will remain in place until the company emerges from Chapter 11, at which time the new Board will assume its responsibilities.
