Sumner Redstone has officially replaced Philippe Dauman and George Abrams in the Sumner M. Redstone Irrevocable Trust. Their National Amusements board seats are also officially accounted for now, as well.
National Amusements EVP and General Counsel Tad Jankowski will take one trustee slot, while the other goes to former media executive and equity analyst Jill Krutick.
“This is my trust and my decision. I have picked those who are loyal to me and removed those who are not,” the 92-year-old Redstone said in a statement.
Additionally, Redstone’s oldest granddaughter, Kimberlee Ostheimer, and Krutick will join the National Amusements board of directors, sitting in Dauman and Abrams’ chairs, which became vacant as of Friday.
National Amusements is the privately owned parent company of Viacom and CBS. The board seats and trustees positions are the prizes in an ongoing war between Dauman and Redstone’s daughter, Shari Redstone. Clearly, the latter is winning right now.
Both sides took Friday’s ousting of Dauman and Abrams to court on Monday, and we are awaiting the results.
Here are the newbies’ bios and statements, provided by a Redstone spokesperson:
Jill Krutick
Krutick has extensive experience as a media and leisure senior corporate executive and leading stock analyst. She served as Senior Vice President for Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Warner Music Group, where she established and led global communications with the investment community and helped guide their half-billion dollar initial public offering. Prior to that she served as an equity analyst for 15 years, including as a Managing Director of U.S. Equity Research at Citigroup (formerly Salomon Smith Barney), where she covered Viacom and other companies. Krutick’s second career is as an abstract, impressionist artist.
“I met Sumner in 1994 when I was an equity analyst covering the large cap entertainment companies for Salomon Smith Barney,” said Krutick. “We had a close working relationship over a 10-year period as Sumner exuberantly shared his views on Viacom with investors from around the globe, and I have continued my long-time relationship with the Redstone family. I am humbled and honored to be selected to be a trustee, as well as a board member of National Amusements.”
Tad Jankowski
Jankowski has worked for Sumner Redstone for 35 years. He is currently the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of National Amusements. He has been directly involved in all aspects of the company’s operations, including financing, restructuring and expansion into the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Russia and Brazil.
Jankowski first joined National Amusements in 1982. He met Redstone while he was at Boston University School of Law. Jankowski became Redstone’s Teaching Assistant for a course titled, ‘Law of the Entertainment Industry.’ Redstone then hired Jankowski to join National Amusements in the legal department, where they worked together on critical blind bidding, product splitting and clearance issues.
“I am honored that Sumner has chosen me as a trustee and am convinced that he did so knowing that I would be loyal to him and would work to accomplish the objectives of the Trust,” Jankowski said.
Kimberlee Ostheimer
Ostheimer is an attorney who practiced at the Legal Aid Society in the Juvenile Rights Division before leaving to take care of her children. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received her law degree at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2008.
Ostheimer was a founding member of the associate board of the New York Legal Assistance Group. She currently serves on the board of American Friends of Beit Issie Shapiro. As a trustee of the KBT Foundation, Ostheimer supports and is involved in numerous philanthropic organizations.
“I am honored to be named as a fourth generation director and look forward to contributing to the continued success of the company my family has built over the last 80 years,” said Ostheimer.