Richard Sarnoff (MBA ’87), a group president at Random House, is one forward-looking media exec who has some impressive links to the industry’s past: His great-uncle, former RCA chairman David Sarnoff, was instrumental in developing the first commercial radio station and in shaping what would become today’s mass media. Sarnoff, who works closely with Random House chairman and CEO Peter Olson (MBA ’76), is, among other priorities, helping to position the publisher in the digital arena, including wireless-content distribution. “The first application of wireless transmission was point-to-point, ship-to-shore, rather than broadcast,” Sarnoff told BusinessWeek (March 7, 2005). “Uncle Dave might look at this narrowcasting phenomenon and think ship-to-shore is coming back.”

The Sarnoff household is further wired into media: Richard’s wife, Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff (MBA ’87), is COO of the Women’s National Basketball Association, responsible for advertising, marketing, communications, broadcasting, and merchandising. “It’s a job and a cause,” she says of the WNBA post, which she came to after stints at Nickelodeon and later at VH1 and Country Music Television, where she was COO.

Post a Comment