Sony Pictures Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton will temporarily serve as presiding officer of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, his colleagues on the federal board decided over the weekend.
President Obama appointed Lynton to the board, which supervises Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, in 2010.
Walter Isaacson, the biographer, former editor of Time magazine and president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, stepped down as chairman in late January to take on a writing project.
Also read: Obama Names Time's Isaacson, Sony's Lynton to Broadcast Board
During a telephone meeting on Saturday, Lynton's fellow governors unanimously elected him interim presiding governor.
“It is a pleasure to work with this multi-talented, bipartisan board, and an honor to be elected to help lead the organization,” Lynton said in a statement. “We are each committed to the cause of making this agency the best it can be. And with our various strengths and diverse backgrounds, we all bring something to the table.”
Lynton is the former CEO of AOL Europe and chairman and CEO of Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Rand Corp.
He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Business School.
Lynton will remain presiding governor until he chooses to step down — or until the board elects someone else or the president selects and the Senate confirms a new chairman.