Randy Falco, (Randell A. Falco) 58, has been President and Chief Executive Officer for Univision Communications Inc. since June 2011.^[1] He is charged with the task of capitalizing on the growth of the U.S. Latino population to steer the Spanish-language media company into the mainstream.^[2] Previously Falco was appointed to Executive Vice President and COO for Univision in January 2011, where he was based in New York and reported to Joe Uva, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Univision Communications.^[3][4] Before joining Univision, he served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of AOL LLC from November 2006 to March 2009. Prior to joining AOL, he served 30 years with NBC. Falco sits on the board of directors of Univision Communications Inc. and Ronald McDonald House.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Falco attended Iona College (New York), where he received his bachelor's of business administration in finance in 1975 and his master's of business administration, also in finance, in 1979. He received an honorary doctorate from Iona College in 2001.^[5]

NBC career[link]

Falco began his career at NBC in September 1975, having recently finished his undergraduate studies. He held several managerial positions in finance, technical operations, and corporate strategic planning. From 1986 until 1991, he served as Vice President of Finance and Administration, NBC Sports.^[2]

In 1993, Falco was named President of NBC's Broadcast and Network Operations division.^[6] He oversaw the facilities and operations of the NBC Television Network worldwide. Falco was responsible for overseeing the design and creation of the Today Show's "Window on the World" studio, MSNBC's state-of-the-art broadcast facilities in Secaucus, N.J., and the digital conversion of the NBC Television Network.^[7]

Falco also served as President of the NBC Universal Television Network Group beginning in 2004 and as Group President of the NBC Television Network, a position to which he was named in 1998. Before that, he had been President of the NBC Television Network, beginning in 1998. Falco has also served as Chief Operating Officer, Olympics, for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.^[8] He has won multiple Emmy Awards for these broadcasts.^[9]

Named president and chief operating officer of the NBC Universal Television Group in December 2005,^[10] Falco was responsible for the group’s commercial and operational functions, including affiliate relations, cable distribution, business development, information technology, network and studio operations, worldwide television distribution, and Telemundo.^[11] He also served as a GE officer.^[12]

AOL[link]

Falco joined AOL as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL LLC. in November 2006. As CEO he was responsible for setting strategy and overseeing operations as the company transitioned to an advertising-focused business model.^[13] In the process of this restructuring, Falco made 16 strategic acquisitions, eliminated $2.5 billion in costs and moved AOL's headquarters to Manhattan from Dulles.^[14] The restructuring also included a series of three workforce reductions which impacted over 3,000 employees.^[15] Under Falco, AOL forged a controversial deal to acquire social networking website bebo.com for $850 million dollars. AOL later sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners in 2010^[16] for $10 million dollars.

In 2007, a year into his tenure at AOL, Falco was named the recipient of the Frank Stanton Award, honoring excellent leadership in the media field.^[17] In 2009, Falco was replaced as CEO by Google Ad Chief Tim Armstrong.^[18] At the time of his departure, AOL’s programming sites had exhibited year-over-year growth in unique visitors for 23 months and many of its sites were in the top five in their categories.^[19] AOL continued to pay Falco’s 8.5 million dollar per year salary for one year after his departure from the company.^[20]

Univision[link]

Falco was named Executive Vice President and COO for Univision in January 2011.^[21] In this position he was responsible for overseeing all revenue-driving functions for the Company, including Advertising Sales, Distribution Sales and Affiliate Relations, as well as the operations of the Company’s television and radio station groups, Corporate Marketing, Research and Corporate Business Development.

Falco was named President and CEO of Univision in June 2011.^[22] Under his leadership, Univision developed three new cable networks – Univision Deportes, Univision tlNovelas and Univision Noticias^[23] – forged a partnership with Hulu^[24] and launched several new apps and websites^[25] to broaden the distribution of its content across new platforms. As CEO, Falco has said he is focused on making Univision, which is acknowledged by Business Insider as an “extremely important media brand,”^[26] the most heavily engaged media brand.^[27]

Personal life[link]

Randy and his wife Susan have three children.

References[link]

External links[link]

• EXECUTIVE PROFILE: Randy Falco
• Change Is Tough, but Necessary, AOL Chief Says
• Exclusive Exit Interview: AOL's Randy Falco