Lucie Salhany

Lucille "Lucie" Salhany (Arabic: لوسي صالحاني‎; born May 25, 1946)[1] is an American media executive of Jordanian and Lebanese Heritage.[2][3] Salhany was the first woman to head a broadcast television network in 1993 in the position as Chairwoman of Fox Broadcasting Company. She later created the United Paramount Network.[4][5] She has had over 30 years of experience in the entertainment business,[6][7] and during the height of her career, was one of the most powerful women at the C-Suite level.[8][9]

Lucie Salhany
Born
Lucille Susan Mady

(1946-05-25) May 25, 1946
Cleveland, Ohio U.S.
Other namesLucie Mady Salhany
Lucille Salhany Polcari
OccupationMedia executive
Years active1967-present
Spouse(s)John Polcari
Children2
Parent(s)Haliam Jacob Mady
Matilda Thomas Mady

Early life

Salhany was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to father Halim "Hal" Jacob Mady, who was Jordanian, and mother Matilda "Tillie" Mady (née Thomas), who was Lebanese.[10][11][12] Her parents owned a grocery store in Cleveland.[4]

Salhany graduated from Brush High School in Lyndhurst, Ohio, in 1964.[13] Salhany attended Kent State University but after dropping out at age 19, she did not continue her education after more than a year.[4]

Career

TV Broadcasting

In 1967, Salhany got a job as a secretary to the Program Manager at an independent TV station in Cleveland called WKBF-TV. She was continuously promoted, and after training by her boss, when she was 24, she took over his position as Program Manager of the station. In 1975, Salhany became program manager of the Boston TV station, WLVI-TV.[4]

In 1979, Salhany become Vice President for Programming for Taft Broadcasting Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Salhany was responsible for bringing then local Chicago talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey to Taft in a syndication deal. Salhany also championed "The Arsenio Hall Show," "Hard Copy" and "Entertainment Tonight.”[4]

In 1985, Salhany moved to Paramount Domestic Television in Los Angeles as president and supervised the production of shows like Entertainment Tonight, The Arsenio Hall Show, Hard Copy, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

FOX

In 1991, former Paramount colleague and newly hired FOX Broadcasting CEO Barry Diller asked Salhany to become Chairman of Twentieth Television. When Diller was fired four months later, Rupert Murdoch gave her Diller's job.[4][14] The position was Chairman of FOX News Network.[9][15]

In 1993, Salhany was responsible for the development the late night show, The Chevy Chase Show,[16] but it was canceled after 6 weeks on air, and was not well received by critics or affiliates alike.[17] The canceled show cost the network tens of millions of dollars.[4] Although Salhany took the network from four nights of programming to seven nights of programming, and was responsible for creating the TV show, The X-Files, which was very successful, and brought the NFL to the network,[18] she left after three and a half years on her five-year contract, saying that Murdoch breached terms of her contract by not maintaining reporting structure. Salhany claimed Murdoch, in meetings in front of others, asked if she was a "fem-Nazi" and what her husband would think of things.[11][19]

UPN

She moved back to Paramount as they were about to launch the United Paramount Network, also known as the UPN—which later merged with The WB.[20] Salhany was Chief Executive Officer of UPN from 1995 to 1997.[21]

In 1997, after leaving UPN, Salhany moved to Boston, where her husband is based, and started a media consultancy business called JH Media.[7]

From 1999 to 2002: Salhany was President/Chief Executive Officer of LifeFX Networks, Inc., a company that animated faces.[11][22][23]

In 2003, Salhany co-founded Echo Bridge Entertainment, LLC.

Hewlett-Packard

Salhany joined the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Board of Directors in January 2002, in connection with the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corporation.[24] In 2002, she also became a member of the HR and Compensation Committee.[25]

Salhany was appointed to the Audit Committee in September 2006. In the same month, she became the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee.[26]

As a result of new leadership and heavy criticism of HP’s board, Salhany left HP’s board in 2011.[27] Leo Apotheker, took over as chief of HP in November 2010 and brought in five new directors to diversify leadership.[28]

Leading up to Salhany’s departure, the HP board faced shareholder lawsuits and received criticism from analysts and shareholders, over the hiring of Apotheker. Of the 12-member board who voted to hire Apotheker, the majority of board members had never met Apotheker.[29][30]

Leadership
  • ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Professional Advisory Board Member
  • American Media, Inc., Director
  • 1997-2002: Compaq Computer Corporation, Board Member until its merger with Hewlett-Packard Company in 2002
  • 2002-2011: Hewlett-Packard Company, Board Member
  • Emerson College, Trustee
  • ION Media Networks, Board Member[31]
  • Lasell College, Advisory Council[32]
  • Screens Entertainment Association, Board Member[33]

Awards

Personal life

Salhany is married to Boston restaurateur John Polcari, Jr. of Regina Pizzeria and Polcari's. They have two sons, Hal and Jake, whom they adopted from Beirut, Lebanon.[4][37] She was previously married in the late 1960s.[11]

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References
  1. "Lucille S Salhany - United States Public Records". FamilySearch. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  2. Sims, Calvin (January 14, 2003). "Profile: Lucie Salhany; In a Career of Hits, a Rare Swing and a Miss". New York Times.
  3. Reference Library of Arab America: Arab Americans. Detroit, MI: Gale Group. 1999. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-0-7876-4175-7. OCLC 680280933.
  4. Sims, Calvin (14 November 1993). "Profile: Lucie Salhany; In a Career of Hits, a Rare Swing and a Miss". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  5. Mogel, Leonard (1994). Making It in Broadcasting: An Insider's Guide to Career Opportunities (1st Collier Books ed.). New York: Collier Books. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-020-34553-4. OCLC 654831539. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  6. Seel, Peter B. "Salhany, Lucy [sic] - U.S. Broadcasting Executive". Encyclopedia of Television. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  7. Dunkley, Cathy (15 February 2004). "Catching up with . . . Lucie Salhany". Variety. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  8. Clark, Kenneth R. (12 April 1992). "Making Waves: Lucie Salhany Takes A Front Seat On TV'ss Roller-coaster". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  9. Diller, Barry; Frank, Richard; Hendricks, John S.; Hubbard, Stanley; Meyers, Barry; Roberts, Brian L.; Salhany, Lucie; Stringer, Howard; West, Donald; Wiley, Richard; Wright, Robert C. (9 November 1993). "Interface Conference: Telecommunications Issues, Hosted by Broadcast & Cable Magazine". C-SPAN. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  10. "Halim Mady mentioned in the record of Halim Mady and Matilda Thomas". FamilySearch. 23 October 1938. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  11. Salhany, Lucie (4 November 2014). "Graduate Communication Series - Lucie Salhany". Lasell College. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  12. Pavelecky, Alicia; Taylor, Ashley (2009). "The Lebanese Syrian American Junior League Records, Western Reserve Historical Society (MS 5030)". Case Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland, OH. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  13. "Previous Wall of Achievement Inductees: 2007. Lucie Mady Salhany, Class of 1964". South Euclid Lyndhurst Schools. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  14. Zurawik, David (11 January 1993). "Fox's First lady New network chief would rather talk about profitability than gender". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  15. Frank, Richard; Iger, Robert A.; Kalinske, Thomas J.; Katzenberg, Jeffrey; Laybourne, Geraldine; Salhany, Lucie; Sassa, Scott; Sherr, Lynn (11 January 1994). "Electronic Media Summit, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Blurred Lines of Programming". C-SPAN. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  16. Kolbert, Elizabeth (11 October 1993). "The Media Business; Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  17. Carter, Bill (18 October 1993). "Chevy Chase's Show Canceled After 6 Weeks". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  18. Salhany, Lucie. "2013 Commencement Speech" (PDF). Lasell College. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  19. Lippman, John (7 July 1994). "Head of Fox Broadcasting Is Resigning : TV: Lucie Salhany, who helped lure affiliates and the NFL contract, is said to be leaving because of clashes with Rupert Murdoch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  20. Daniels, Susanne; Littleton, Cynthia (2007). Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 157–. ISBN 978-0-06-134099-4. OCLC 136783001. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  21. Fabrikant, Geraldine (9 May 1997). "The Media Business: Chief of United Paramount Network Is Quitting". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  22. Lais, Sami (22 January 2001). "Is It Real, or Is It LifeFX?". Computerworld. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  23. Bernstein, Paula (1 May 2001). "Lost & Found: Lucie Salhany". Variety. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  24. "Lucille S. Salhany - Pay Pals - The Huffington Post". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  25. "2003 Annual Meeting of Shareowners Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement" (PDF). Hewlett-Packard Company.
  26. "2007 Annual Meeting of Stockholders". Sec.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  27. "How Hewlett-Packard lost its way". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  28. Madway, Gabriel. "Hewlett-Packard shakes up board, four to leave". U.S. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  29. reporter, By Julianne Pepitone, staff. "4 HP directors step down after Hurd scandal - Jan. 20, 2011". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  30. Stewart, James B. (2011-09-21). "Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  31. Monreal, Leslie; Rosenberg, Michelle; Garcia, Richard (26 June 2006). "ION Media Networks Appoints Lucille S. Salhany and William A. Roskin to Board of Directors". Business Wire. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  32. Chase, Brandon (1 March 2013). "Lucie Salhany to deliver 2013 commencement address". Lasell College - 1851 Chronicle. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  33. The Deadline Team (18 September 2014). "Screens Entertainment Association Launches For Multi-Multi-Platform Executives". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  34. "The Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame". Broadcasting & Cable. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  35. "Executive of the Year: 1996 Lucie Salhany President and CEO United Paramount Network". Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  36. "Avatar Award". Media Financial Management Association. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  37. "Groundbreaking Media Executive Lucie Salhany to Speak at Lasell College Commencement". Lasell College. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

Further reading
  • King, Larry, and Pat Piper. "Lucie Salhany, former president and CEO, UPN Television." Future Talk: Conversations About Tomorrow with Today's Most Provocative Personalities. New York: HarperPerennial, 1999. ISBN 978-0-060-93015-8 OCLC 40938799
  • Kimmel, Daniel M. The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television. Chicago: I.R. Dee, 2004. ISBN 978-1-566-63951-4 OCLC 876592763
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