Tegna announces new president and CEO

Michael Steib will succeed Tegna President and CEO David Lougee, who is retiring Aug. 12, Tysons-based broadcasting giant Tegna announced Monday.

The 48-year-old Steib will also succeed Lougee as a member of the company’s board of directors. Lougee, age 65, will become a senior adviser. Lougee has been president and CEO and a director of Tegna, the nation’s largest owner of NBC-affiliate TV stations, since 2017.

Steib is currently CEO of Artsy, an online marketplace for art. He previously served as president and CEO of XO Group, which is now The Knot Worldwide. Before that, from 2011 to 2013, Steib was CEO for vente-privée USA, which was the U.S. arm of the French flash sale ecommerce company Veepee before Veepee shut it down in 2014.

Steib previously held executive positions at Google, including managing director of emerging platforms, and was at NBC Universal before that.

“I believe deeply in the power of local news to connect our communities and strengthen our democracy,” Steib said in a statement. “With strong operations in more than 50 key markets across America, a history of exceptional journalism, strong cash flow and a talented and passionate team, Tegna is incredibly well positioned to seize this moment and build a bright future for local news and community in our country,”

He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. Steib authored “The Career Manifesto: Discover Your Calling and Create an Extraordinary Life,” published in 2018. He also hosted a podcast, “Office Hours with Mike Steib,” in which he interviewed CEOs.

Lougee said in a statement: “I am confident that Mike is the right CEO to take Tegna into the future at a time of profound change in our industry, and I look forward to helping him in any way I can. I am very proud of all we have accomplished over the last seven years and have been fortunate to work with a terrific board, superb management team and dedicated employees.”

Lougee became president and CEO of Tegna and joined its board in June 2017. Prior to that, he served as president of Tegna Media for 10 years. From 2005 to 2007, Lougee was executive vice president of media operations for Belo.

“Dave has had a great run at Tegna,” Howard Elias, chairman of Tegna’s board, said in a statement. “The board and I deeply appreciate all he has done to build the company into an industry leader with a strong financial position and a commitment to the communities in which we operate, but we understand his desire to retire as CEO at this juncture.”

Under Lougee’s more recent tenure, in May 2023, New York-based hedge fund Standard General’s $5.4 billion bid to acquire Tegna was terminated, after the acquisition’s deadline expired. At the time the deal was announced in February 2022, Standard General was planning to acquire Tegna through affiliate Standard Media.

Earlier this year, Tegna expanded its contract with Comscore, reaching a multiyear deal for the Reston-based media metrics and audience measurement services provider to cover all of Tegna’s markets nationwide, up from the 22 markets it had previously covered for Tegna. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Tegna has also appointed two new directors to its board. Catherine Dunleavy, the former president of Away, and Denmark West, who heads market intelligence and strategic engagements at X, The Moonshot Factory, which is a division of Alphabet, will join the board on July 1.

Formed in 2015 when Gannett Co. spun off its broadcasting and digital business, Tegna owns 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets and multicast networks True Crime Network and Quest.