Fox News Channel has named Amy Listerman its new chief financial officer and executive vice president of Finance and Accounting, co-presidents Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine announced on Monday. Listerman is the first female CFO in the history of the network.
The move comes as the most-watched show in cable news, Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” is losing advertisers after a New York Times report detailed alleged cases of sexual harassment against Bill O’Reilly. Listerman will oversee all financial operations for both Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, starting May 1.
“I have always admired the strength and success of Fox News and I am very excited to join the management team and help foster the network’s growth in this new era of television,” Listerman said in a statement.
Listerman will report directly to Shine and Abernethy, who took over Fox News when founding CEO Roger Ailes stepped down in disgrace last year amid a variety of sexual harassment claims.
“We are delighted to welcome Amy to the Fox News leadership team. Amy has an impressive track record of strong controllership, leading with integrity and partnering with management on growing new revenue streams. We look forward to implementing her expertise across all of our business units,” Shine and Abernethy said in a joint statement.
Fox News is regularly the most-watched network among all of basic cable. It finished the first quarter of 2017 with the highest-rated quarter ever in cable news history in 24-hour viewership, proving that Shine and Abernethy can fill the shoes of Ailes.
Listerman was previously the CFO and senior vice president of ad sales at at Scripps Networks Interactive, where she was responsible for financial revenue and cost management of the roughly $2 billion advertising sales division. She has also worked for NBC Universal, Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.
Listerman is a summa cum laude graduate of the University Of Notre Dame and went on to earn master’s degree from Harvard Business School.