Jeffrey Schneider, senior VP and longtime spokesman for ABC News, is leaving to start his own PR shop, Schneider Global Strategy.
Schneider exits ABC News after 14 years. ABC News president James Goldston said Schneider told him in March he was interested in starting his own firm and was asked to remain for a transition period, including through Goldston’s appointment as president in April, when then ABC News chief Ben Sherwood was named Disney/ABC TV Group president.
"We have all seen [Schneider] in action, promoting and defending this news division with passion and intensity," Goldston told staff in a memo released Oct. 20. "And for 14 years, 365 days a year, at all hours of the night and day, he has treated ABC News as family, advising with the utmost care and wisdom so many in this division and company."
Julie Townsend, VP of comms., is taking the reins on ABC News communications. She started as a PR coordinator for "Nightline" and "This Week" in Washington in 2001 before departing for NBC. She returned in 2011.
Schneider will stay on through the mid-term elections before giving way to Townsend, who will report to Kevin Brockman, EVP of global communications for Disney/ABC TV.
ABC News SVP of Comms to Exit
Mon., Oct. 20, 2014
By Greg Hazley
Category: Corporate Communications
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