TVB’s Abby Auerbach To Retire At Year’s End

NEW YORK — One of the most recognized advocates for broadcast television advertising has announced that she will retire at the end of 2024, concluding a 24-year tenure at the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB).

Thus, come January 1, Abby Auerbach will no longer serve as TVB’s EVP/Chief Communications Officer.

Auerbach joined TVB in 2000 from her role as Senior Partner, Director Local TV and Radio, U.S. at Ogilvy, a position she held for nine years. At TVB, she began her tenure as an EVP and later added Chief Communications Officer responsibilities in 2010, under CEO Steve Lanzano. In 2020, she expanded her role, taking the position of Executive Director for TVB’s NEXT Women program, which is designed to help identify, prepare, mentor, and advocate for women in the local broadcast television industry as they aspire to leadership roles.

Lanzano commented, “Throughout her career, Abby has been a powerful and impactful industry leader that has significantly elevated the awareness of local broadcast television’s vitality and critical importance to local communities. She brought her tremendous energy, passion and skills to bear in spearheading initiatives which have helped modernize the way the industry transacts business, provided sales teams at member stations and groups with timely resources to support revenue growth, and formed life-changing partnerships between industry constituents. Additionally, she has been a champion for women’s career advancement by mentoring women into industry leadership roles. We are very appreciative of Abby’s more than two decades of excellence in helping to establish TVB as an impactful trade association and wish her the best as she retires.”

Auerbach is widely recognized for developing ePort, an eBusiness platform transacting billions of local broadcast TV orders annually. She also spearheaded the 20+-year TVB/Ad Council/NHTSA local TV PSA campaign “Project Roadblock” to help stop drunk driving during the year-end holiday season. Auerbach was also a key TVB leader orchestrating the evolution and production of the TVB Forward Conference, which RBR+TVBR has covered extensively with exclusive coverage over the last several years.

“Having a career wholly focused on local broadcast television has been an extraordinary experience,” Auerbach commented. “From my earliest days at HRP, to Ogilvy and then for nearly 25 years at TVB, I’ve been privileged to be part of an industry focused on serving local communities and businesses in the most impactful ways. I’ve worked with the smartest, most passionate people, and spectacularly talented teams who inspired me every day. It’s an exciting time for local TV broadcasters and I can’t wait to see where TVB and the industry lead this vital medium going forward.”

Abby Auerbach has been an IRTS board member for 20+ years and is a former director of the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM). She is former chair of 4A’s Local Broadcast Committee and the EDI Task Force. Through She Runs It, she has mentored many up-and-coming women in the industry. She is a decades-long member of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI). In 2009, she was named among the 25 Women to Watch in Sales and Marketing by AWM, and in 2016 she was the recipient of an Ad Council Catalyst Award.

RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION by Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson:

Wow …. Abby, what an incredible ride and hats off to you from the entire team at the Radio + Television Business Report. Your efforts have been tremendous and valued across the decades, and more recently with the important and calculated evolution of the TVB Forward conference. You will be missed, but the industry is a much better and stronger one thanks in part to your work.