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Bob Wright
Robert Charles Wright (born April 23, 1943) is an American lawyer, businessman, lobbyist, and author. He is a former NBC executive, having been president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, and chairman and CEO from 2001 until he retired in 2007. He has been credited with overseeing the broadcast network's expansion into a media conglomerate and leading the company to record earnings in the 1990s. Prior to NBC, he held several posts at General Electric in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. He was president and CEO of GE Capital, GE Financial Services, from 1983 to 1986 and GE's vice chairman until he retired from that role in 2008.
In 2005, Wright and his wife, Suzanne Wright, founded Autism Speaks. In 2016, after his wife's death from pancreatic cancer, Wright established the Suzanne Wright Foundation, which funds research for pancreatic cancer. Through the Suzanne Wright Foundation, he led the initiative to establish a Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, or HARPA, a government research agency modeled after the U.S. Department of Defense's DARPA. On March 15, 2022, Public Law 117-103 was enacted authorizing the establishment of ARPA-H within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Wright was born on April 23, 1943, in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island, the only child of Catherine Drum Wright and Gerald Franklin Wright. After graduating from Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, Wright enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He originally studied pre-med, but later changed his studies to major in psychology and minor in history. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. Wright earned an LL.B. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968.
Wright began his career with General Electric as a staff lawyer in 1969. The following year, he left GE to take a judicial clerkship for a federal judge in New Jersey. Wright joined GE again in 1973 as a lawyer for the company's plastics unit, where he later took on several management positions. GE made a deal to acquire radio, broadcast TV and cable properties of Atlanta, Georgia-based Cox Communications in 1979 and appointed Wright as Cox Cable president and executive vice president of Cox Broadcasting. The deal did not come to fruition, however Wright remained with Cox Cable as president until 1983. Under Wright's leadership, Cox Cable launched franchises across the U.S., including franchises in Omaha, Nebraska, Tucson, Arizona, New Orleans, Louisiana, Vancouver, Washington, suburbs near Chicago, Illinois, and Providence, Rhode Island, and a portion of Long Island, New York. Wright was a contemporary of Ted Turner (Turner Broadcasting Systems), John Malone (TCI), Chuck Dolan (Cablevision Systems) and Ralph J. Roberts (Comcast) during the early days of cable television. Wright left Cox to join GE once again in 1983, when GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch hired him to lead the company's housewares and audio units. He was promoted to president of GE Financial Services from 1984 to 1986.
GE named Wright the president and CEO of the National Broadcasting Company when the company acquired the broadcast network in 1986. He succeeded Grant Tinker in the role. He became chairman and CEO of NBC in 2001. He was named chairman and CEO of NBC Universal in 2004.
Upon succeeding Tinker, Wright's main mission became finding new areas of business in addition to running a television network, and transformed the network into a media conglomerate. NBC launched CNBC in 1989 and MSNBC in 1996. Both are examples of the strategic partnerships NBC created under Wright to improve distribution and content. CNBC included a partnership with Dow Jones allowing delivery of local business and financial news in Europe and Asia; and MSNBC was a venture with Microsoft that launched a new 24-hour news network and accompanying news website to combine the two mediums.
Wright is credited with leading NBC during a time when the company became a powerful media leader, driving the company to record earnings in the 1990s. The network reported $5 billion in revenues and nearly more $1 billion in operating profits in 1996. Also under Wright, NBC acquired Universal Pictures, Telemundo and Bravo.
In the early- and mid-90s, Wright and NBC led efforts to persuade lawmakers and regulators to relax rules preventing networks from becoming multichannel program providers, obtaining certain financial interests and syndication.
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Bob Wright
Robert Charles Wright (born April 23, 1943) is an American lawyer, businessman, lobbyist, and author. He is a former NBC executive, having been president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, and chairman and CEO from 2001 until he retired in 2007. He has been credited with overseeing the broadcast network's expansion into a media conglomerate and leading the company to record earnings in the 1990s. Prior to NBC, he held several posts at General Electric in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. He was president and CEO of GE Capital, GE Financial Services, from 1983 to 1986 and GE's vice chairman until he retired from that role in 2008.
In 2005, Wright and his wife, Suzanne Wright, founded Autism Speaks. In 2016, after his wife's death from pancreatic cancer, Wright established the Suzanne Wright Foundation, which funds research for pancreatic cancer. Through the Suzanne Wright Foundation, he led the initiative to establish a Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, or HARPA, a government research agency modeled after the U.S. Department of Defense's DARPA. On March 15, 2022, Public Law 117-103 was enacted authorizing the establishment of ARPA-H within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Wright was born on April 23, 1943, in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island, the only child of Catherine Drum Wright and Gerald Franklin Wright. After graduating from Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, Wright enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He originally studied pre-med, but later changed his studies to major in psychology and minor in history. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. Wright earned an LL.B. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968.
Wright began his career with General Electric as a staff lawyer in 1969. The following year, he left GE to take a judicial clerkship for a federal judge in New Jersey. Wright joined GE again in 1973 as a lawyer for the company's plastics unit, where he later took on several management positions. GE made a deal to acquire radio, broadcast TV and cable properties of Atlanta, Georgia-based Cox Communications in 1979 and appointed Wright as Cox Cable president and executive vice president of Cox Broadcasting. The deal did not come to fruition, however Wright remained with Cox Cable as president until 1983. Under Wright's leadership, Cox Cable launched franchises across the U.S., including franchises in Omaha, Nebraska, Tucson, Arizona, New Orleans, Louisiana, Vancouver, Washington, suburbs near Chicago, Illinois, and Providence, Rhode Island, and a portion of Long Island, New York. Wright was a contemporary of Ted Turner (Turner Broadcasting Systems), John Malone (TCI), Chuck Dolan (Cablevision Systems) and Ralph J. Roberts (Comcast) during the early days of cable television. Wright left Cox to join GE once again in 1983, when GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch hired him to lead the company's housewares and audio units. He was promoted to president of GE Financial Services from 1984 to 1986.
GE named Wright the president and CEO of the National Broadcasting Company when the company acquired the broadcast network in 1986. He succeeded Grant Tinker in the role. He became chairman and CEO of NBC in 2001. He was named chairman and CEO of NBC Universal in 2004.
Upon succeeding Tinker, Wright's main mission became finding new areas of business in addition to running a television network, and transformed the network into a media conglomerate. NBC launched CNBC in 1989 and MSNBC in 1996. Both are examples of the strategic partnerships NBC created under Wright to improve distribution and content. CNBC included a partnership with Dow Jones allowing delivery of local business and financial news in Europe and Asia; and MSNBC was a venture with Microsoft that launched a new 24-hour news network and accompanying news website to combine the two mediums.
Wright is credited with leading NBC during a time when the company became a powerful media leader, driving the company to record earnings in the 1990s. The network reported $5 billion in revenues and nearly more $1 billion in operating profits in 1996. Also under Wright, NBC acquired Universal Pictures, Telemundo and Bravo.
In the early- and mid-90s, Wright and NBC led efforts to persuade lawmakers and regulators to relax rules preventing networks from becoming multichannel program providers, obtaining certain financial interests and syndication.