• by Paul Gough , January 22, 2003

As a syndicated TV group’s big convention winds down in New Orleans, its leader plans to step down.

Bruce Johansen, president and CEO of the National Association of Television Program Executives, announced his resignation Wednesday afternoon. He joined NAPTE in 1993 and will remain in the job until his replacement is found. NATPE also said Johansen would become a long-term adviser to the organization and its board of directors following his official resignation.

A successor hasn’t been named yet, although a search committee headed by NATPE co-founder Lew Klein is expected to begin work right away.

“It has been an extraordinary decade working with NATPE, which has provided many advantages and benefits to the global television industry. Our mandate was help our business grow and constantly challenge itself to reach for new heights, and I am pleased to have been a part of helping the television business evolve,” Johansen said in a prepared statement.

In other developments, NATPE unveiled its new board of directors and executive committee. The executive committee will be headed by newly elected NATPE chairwoman Peggy Kelly, SVP/global client services at Universal McCann in New York. The committee also includes Tony Vinciquerra, NATPE’s immediate past chairman and president/CEO of Fox Networks Group in Los Angeles; Carole Black, president/CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services in New York; Emerson Coleman, VP/programming at Hearst-Argyle Television in New York; and Dennis Williamson, SVP of Belo Corp. in Dallas.

NATPE also announced three new board members: Gary Marenzi, president of Paramount International Television in Los Angeles; Gilles Meunier, commercial director at SmartJog in Paris; and John Reardon, west coast regional vice president of Tribune Television/GM of KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.

“Our industry finds itself at a crossroad where we all must look to the future so that all sectors closely tied to the television business are strategically positioned to achieve continued growth and success. NATPE will be at the forefront of this endeavor,” said Kelly.