New CEO in Place at SBS Broadcasting

AMSTERDAM: Eric van Stade has exited his post as the CEO of SBS Broadcasting due to a "difference of opinion" as to how the company should move forward, with Georgette Schlick taking over the role.

Schlick becomes the first female CEO of a Dutch broadcasting company. She joins the team of André Kreuzen, CFO; Peter Vertregt, chief commercial officer; and Leo van der Goot, the director of television.

Sanoma and Talpa took over SBS in April, and since have been redefining the steps that need to be taken to give SBS a new direction.

"Sanoma and Talpa are happy to get Georgette Schlick as part of our team," Dick Molman, the CEO Sanoma Media Netherlands. "We unanimously agreed that Georgette should be the one to lead SBS. She is friendly and decisive at the same time. Exactly what we need at SBS to conquer the challenges that the company faces now and in the years to come to increase its market share."

"The challenges that lie ahead to improve the SBS market share are not easy," Schlick commented. "At the same time we know that SBS has immense potential. I hope and think that, together with my new colleagues, I will able to live up to the ambitions of the new shareholders and that SBS will strengthen its market position with an improved strategic focus on the future."