As of August 9, the nation’s largest broadcast TV station owner will have its new EVP/CFO.
The appointment comes following the promotion in October 2020 of Tom Carter to President/COO, a move that saw him retain his financial role.
Joining Nexstar Media Group is Lee Ann Gliha.
She’ll soon have oversight of all financial aspects of the media company’s business, including internal and external financial reporting, internal audit, compliance and controls, investor relations, and treasury and capital markets functions.
Gliha will also take a prominent role in strategic planning, business development, and mergers and acquisitions.
Any discussion of further M&A activity from Nexstar, which recently purchased Tribune Media and gobbled up Media General on its path to No. 1 in station assets, will certainly be an intriguing one.
And, should any more buying come, Gliha will be front and center in such discussions.
So will Carter, who had been EVP/CFO since joining Nexstar in 2009. Now, he’ll solely focus on his much larger role under company founder and CEO Perry Sook.
Gliha is a familiar name on Wall Street, as she was most recently a Managing Director at Jefferies LLC. That’s the financial house based in Orange County, Calif., that in 2017 helped another locally based organization — Veritone — enjoy a huge spike in share value. And, until late 2018, it was the home of John Janedis, who departed to become SVP/Capital Markets and Investor Relations at TEGNA.
Janedis was Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for media, cable and telecom at Jefferies LLC.
Speaking of Gliha, Carter said, “Lee Ann is an accomplished finance leader who understands the rapidly evolving media ecosystem and brings extensive industry relationships to her new role at Nexstar. This background will be invaluable to Nexstar’s senior management team, Board of Directors, and our experienced finance team, and will be instrumental in advancing our strategic objectives with the goal of further enhancing
shareholder value.”
Prior to joining Jefferies in 2016, Gliha spent eight years as a Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey, specializing in media and out-of-home entertainment investment banking.
Houlihan Lokey, following Gliha’s time there, acquired investment bank MVP Capital, home to such well-known brokers as Elliot Evers.
Earlier in her career, Gliha held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in the banking and finance industry at companies such as UBS Investment Bank, Banc of
America Securities, and Live Nation, where she served as EVP of Corporate
Finance from 2006 to 2008 and was responsible for the company’s mergers and acquisitions, financing, and investor relations functions.
Gliha said, “Throughout its 25-year history, Nexstar has been at the forefront of every major innovation in local television broadcasting, while maintaining the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Nexstar’s corporate and local management teams have built the preeminent local broadcasting and digital media company in the country and consistently delivered impressive financial results for shareholders. I am thrilled to be joining Nexstar and I look forward to growing and evolving the business and driving new value for shareholders.”
Gliha has a pre-existing personal connection to Nexstar—her sister is Lori Jane Gliha, an investigative journalist at KDVR-TV “FOX 31” in Denver and sibling KWGN-2.
