NEW YORK – The Associated Press today named broadcast executive David Gwizdowski as senior vice president for revenue for the Americas in a restructuring that aligns all revenue functions in the region under a single director. The company also announced the promotion of Karen Kaiser, currently associate general counsel, to senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.
Gwizdowski has been vice president of broadcast markets for AP since 2010, overseeing sales, licensing and product strategy for broadcasters in the United States and Canada. AP’s global revenue units, based in London, already report to Daisy Veerasingham, senior vice president for revenue/international. Under the new structure, all AP revenue functions worldwide will report into Gwizdowski or Veerasingham.
“David’s strong video background, sales experience and understanding of AP make him the right person to restructure our lines of business in the Americas. Together, Dave and Daisy will bring a more focused and coordinated effort to driving AP’s revenue,” said President and CEO Gary Pruitt. “This new structure will allow AP to both better serve existing customers and target new opportunities.”
Most recently, Gwizdowski oversaw the rollout of AP Video-US, a new service improvement that provides local broadcasters a daily selection of original video from their region, the U.S. and around the world. As part of this effort, AP also has recently doubled the number of video journalists in the Americas.
Kaiser was named assistant general counsel at AP in 2009 and promoted to associate general counsel in 2011. At AP, she has specialized in First Amendment issues, such as reporters’ privilege, the Freedom of Information Act, access, libel defense and government investigations of AP journalists.
She led AP’s legal strategy against the U.S. Department of Justice after the DOJ revealed last spring that it had secretly seized records from more than 20 AP phone lines as part of a leaks investigation. Ultimately, the DOJ announced a series of steps that would provide increased protections for reporters.
“Karen’s expertise and her commitment to freedom of the press have proven how important it is to maintain vigilance so that the public right-to-know is protected,” Pruitt said. “As general counsel, she will continue those efforts while also putting her experience to work for AP in other critical areas.”
Before joining AP, Kaiser was senior counsel at the Tribune Company, where she was responsible for editorial, litigation and other legal services for several daily news properties, and helped pass the Connecticut Reporter’s Shield Law. Prior to that, she was a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Cahill Gordon and Reindel where, among other cases, she worked on the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. She holds a law degree from Fordham Law School.
Gwizdowski holds a journalism degree from Emerson College in Boston. He joined AP in 1997 as a regional TV executive and was promoted to director of network sales in 2001. Previously, he worked at KTRK-TV in Houston and at WLVI-TV in Boston, where he served as assistant news director; WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I., and WLBZ-TV in Bangor, Maine, as news director; and at WCVB-TV in Boston, where he was executive producer. He has won two Emmys and two RTNDA Awards for Overall Excellence.
Contact
Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
[email protected]
Erin Madigan White
Senior Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
[email protected]