New York, USA - September 21, 2012, New York, USA - Time Warner announced that Bill Nelson, CEO of Home Box Office, will step down at the end of the year.
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Mr. Nelson was named to his current position in June 2007. Previously, he was chief operating officer, a position he held since July 2002. Mr. Nelson joined HBO in May 1984 as vice president and assistant controller. In July 1985, he was named vice president and controller, and was promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer in September 1991. In April 1994, he was made executive vice president.
Before joining HBO, Mr. Nelson worked for Time Inc. for five years as a director, External Reporting and Risk Management. Earlier, from 1975 to 1979, he served as an audit supervisor for Ernst &Young, a public accounting firm in New York where he became a CPA.
Mr. Nelson holds a BBA degree in accounting and finance and an MBA from Pace University in New York. He also completed Harvard University's Program for Management Development. Mr. Nelson is currently a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He served with the US Army's 2/502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
The company also announced that Eric Kessler will serve as President and COO and Michael Lombardo will serve as President, Programming, and both will report to Richard Plepler, who will become CEO.
Mr. Plepler has been co-President of HBO since 2007. He has greenlit some of HBO's most acclaimed and successful series. Among them are True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, The Newsroom and Game of Thrones, and first season Emmy award nominees Girls and Veep. Additional award-winning programs include the miniseries Mildred Pierce, starring Kate Winslet, and Generation Kill; HBO Films' Too Big To Fail, Temple Grandin, Taking Chance, Grey Gardens, Game Change and You Don't Know Jack.
Mr. Plepler joined HBO in 1992 as senior vice president, corporate communications, and was named executive vice president, corporate communications, in 1997. He was promoted to executive vice president, HBO, from 2002-2007, and he also served as a member of HBO's program planning committee.
Mr. Kessler, a 26-year veteran of HBO, has been co-President of the network since 2007. From 2003-2007, he was president, sales and marketing and from 1995-2002, Kessler served as executive vice president of marketing. Mr. Kessler is the recipient of numerous high-profile industry honors, including Promax's Brand Builder of the Year; Brandweek's Marketer of the Year, and was named a top 10 Innovator by Advertising Age. He joined HBO in 1986 as a marketing manager in home video and served as the president of the division from 1989-1995.
Mr. Lombardo has been president of programming for HBO since 2007, responsible for overseeing all of HBO's original programming initiatives, including HBO Films, HBO Sports, HBO Documentaries and Family and HBO Entertainment (series and specials). He also oversees HBO's Program Planning group, which is responsible for research and scheduling in connection with the HBO and Cinemax services. In addition, he is responsible for the West Coast Business Affairs, Legal and Production departments. ■