Michael Steib will succeed David Lougee as president, CEO and director at Tegna as of August 12. Lougee, 65, will retire from those roles and will become a senior adviser.
Steib, 48, is CEO of Artsy, an online platform for discovering and collecting art, after a stint as president and CEO of XO Group, parent company of The Knot.
Earlier, he was in executive positions at NBCUniversal and Google.
“Dave has had a great run at Tegna,” Tegna chairman Howard Elias said. “The board and I deeply appreciate all he has done to build the company into an industry leader with a strong financial position and a commitment to the communities in which we operate, but we understand his desire to retire as CEO at this juncture. Over the past year, the board has engaged in a thoughtful and comprehensive succession process to identify Tegna future leadership. We are fortunate that Mike Steib will be Dave’s successor working with a top-notch team. Mike is a dynamic executive with technology and digital savvy, a passion for local journalism, deep advertising and media experience, a history of developing high performance teams, and a track record of successfully building businesses and driving business model transformation. We are confident he has the broad skill set that will be necessary to chart Tegna’s future at a time of unprecedented change in our industry.”
Tegna owns 64 TV stations, multicast networks True Crime and Quest, and OTT ad platform Premion.
Back when he worked in television, Steib was Google’s director of TV ads and NBCU’s general manager of strategic ventures.
“I believe deeply in the power of local news to connect our communities and strengthen our democracy,“ Steib said. “And I am excited about the many opportunities to leverage technology to enhance this service and generate substantial value for shareholders. With strong operations in more than 50 key markets across America, a history of exceptional journalism, strong cash flow, and a talented and passionate team, Tegna is incredibly well positioned to seize this moment and build a bright future for local news and community in our country.”
Lougee joined Tegna in 2007. Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2017, Lougee was executive VP of Belo. Earlier in his career, he was VP of news at WRC Washington and news director at KUSA Denver.
“I am confident that Mike is the right CEO to take Tegna into the future at a time of profound change in our industry, and I look forward to helping him in any way I can,” Lougee said. “I am very proud of all we have accomplished over the last seven years and have been fortunate to work with a terrific board, superb management team, and dedicated employees.”
