• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 30, 2009

Mike Shaw will step down as president-sales and marketing for the ABC Television Network at year-end. Shaw, who has presided over some of the most tumultuous years of network TV advertising sales since becoming ABC's sales chief in September 2000, said he was stepping down from a day-to-day role in order to "pursue a number of personal goals," but would remain a strategic advisor to the company, reporting to Disney Media Networks Co-Chair and Disney/ABC Television Network Group President Anne Sweeney.

"I'll continue in this role for the next few months to ensure a smooth transition, and then look forward to working on a number of projects for the company over the next year," Shaw said in a statement released late Monday by ABC.

The network said a replacement would be named in the near future, but gave no indication who might be in line, or whether it was looking inside or outside the current ABC sales organization.

During his tenure as ABC sales chief, Shaw was responsible for sales and integrated marketing deals for all of the network's dayparts, including prime time, daytime, news, and late night as well as interactive and sales development. He also oversaw Disney/ABC Unlimited, the cross-platform sales unit of the Walt Disney Company, as well as SOAPnet.

Shaw joined ABC in July 1999 as executive vice president-national sales manager for the ABC Television Network, where he was responsible for sales of all prime-time programming and specials and oversaw ABC Sales offices in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.

Before joining ABC, Shaw was executive vice president-advertising sales for parent Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista Television syndication unit.