New President at ABC Family

BURBANK: Tom Ascheim, who previously served as executive VP and general manager of Nickelodeon Television and CEO of Newsweek, has been tapped as the new president of ABC Family.

Ascheim takes on the new role effective immediately. He joined Viacom in 1990 as VP of Nickelodeon business development and media productions. He went on to serve as executive VP and general manager of Nickelodeon Digital Television Networks, and later as executive VP and general manager of Nickelodeon Television. He left Viacom in 2007 to join Newsweek as CEO. From there, he went to Sesame Workshop as chief strategy officer, and also served as executive VP of Sesame Learning.

In his new role at ABC Family, Ascheim reports to Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group.

Sweeney stated, “I knew Tom during my time at Nickelodeon, and always thought he was an incredibly smart, strategic executive. Since then, he has only reinforced my opinion of his abilities. Whether in print, television, or the financial sector, Tom has gone from success to success. He has a proven capability of leading creative teams, and I’m thrilled that he’ll now bring his innovative, entrepreneurial spirit to bear on behalf of ABC Family and the Disney/ABC Television Group.”

Ascheim added, “I had the pleasure of working with Anne at the beginning of my career, so when she offered me the opportunity to join the enormously talented team at ABC Family, I jumped at the chance. While ABC Family has accomplished so much already, I'm very confident that we have only just begun to tap its full potential.”