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Published on Monday, 10 September 2012 19:45
Telemundo Media announced today it has found a person to fill the over three-month vacancy at the head of WSNS-TV/Telemundo Chicago. Native Chicagoan Chris McDonnell was today named as President and General Manager for the station.
It is a return visit to WSNS-TV for McDonnell, who previously was the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Telemundo Chicago from 2002-2005. He also worked at NBC-owned sister-station WMAQ-TV/NBC 5 Chicago from 1995-2002, where he held a few different sales roles from Account Executive, to National Sales Manager to Local Sales Manager.
Most recently, McDonnell has been the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for KXAS-TV, the NBC-TV station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, since 2009. He has worked within the NBC television group non-stop since 1995.
While Chris McDonnell was working as Vice President of Sales & Marketing at San Diego's KNSD-TV (2005-2009), he worked under Phyllis Schwartz, who was President/General Manager. Schwartz is also now back in Chicago, working as Vice President and News Director at WFLD-TV.
This appointment now fills the vacancy left when Celia Chavez
exited WSNS-TV in May, after less than two years in the role, when she was promoted to President and General Manager of KVEA-TV, Telemundo's important Los Angeles television station.
In his new strategic and operational leadership role at WSNS-TV, Chris McDonnell will report directly to Manuel Abud, President of the Telemundo Station Group.
In a
statement this afternoon, Abud said of McDonnell: "Chris has an extensive background in broadcast television, including both Spanish-language and general market. He is no stranger to Chicago or Telemundo, having grown up in Chicago and previously managed the Telemundo Chicago sales team. His strong sales background, coupled with his knowledge of both the market and our organization, make him the ideal leader for our station."
Chris McDonnell graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1988 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Journalism.
