Symson To Succeed Boehne As Scripps CEO

Adam Symson

Adam Symson will assume the role of president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company on Tuesday, Aug. 8. The company's board of directors set that date for the anticipated CEO transition to Symson from Rich Boehne, who will continue as Scripps chairman.

In November, Symson, 42, was promoted to chief operating officer, overseeing day-to-day operations of the company's broadcast TV, digital media and radio divisions. He joined Scripps in 2002 and held a variety of roles in the television and interactive divisions before being tapped to lead digital operations in 2011.

"Adam is a terrific leader, motivated by an entrepreneurial drive and a mission-driven commitment to enterprise journalism," said Boehne. "He steps up to the new role determined to continue — and accelerate — the success of this adventurous 140-year-old company."

Boehne, 61, who began his career as a newspaper reporter, has played a significant role in the growth and evolution of Scripps over the past 29 years. Most significant has been his deep commitment to public service, setting the tone for employees by his own embrace of the company's familiar motto: "Give light and the people will find their own way."

Rich Boehne

Boehne's career highlights include:

• He began his media career in high school selling subscriptions for The Cincinnati Post, a former Scripps newspaper. He went on to become a journalist and worked for The Post as a business reporter and editor.
• He joined the Scripps corporate staff in 1988 as Scripps was preparing to become a publicly traded company in a period of dramatic growth and transition for the enterprise.
• In 2008, when the cable networks either built or acquired by Scripps were spun off into a separate publicly traded company, Scripps Networks Interactive, Boehne became president and CEO of the journalism-focused E.W. Scripps Company.
• In 2013, the Scripps board elected Boehne as chairman.
• Boehne was the champion of the 2015 deal with Journal Communications that merged Journal's broadcast operations into Scripps and spun off both companies' newspapers into a separate publicly traded company, Journal Media Group, which has since been sold to Gannett.

"Rich has served this company, our employees and our shareholders with distinction, integrity and humility," said Marvin Quin, Scripps' lead director. "His unwavering commitment to freedom of the press has benefited the communities we serve, and his pursuit of value-enhancing opportunities has been instrumental in the company's success. Scripps will continue to benefit from his experience and instincts in his new role of non-executive board chair."