Bill Nelson, 101st Airborne Vietnam Vet, retires from HBO

HBO shuffles execs as Nelson retires
Richard Plepler to CEO;
Eric Kessler to prexy and COO
By STUART LEVINE

HBO is realigning its top management structure following the decision of Bill Nelson to step down after nearly 30 years as a key architect of the pay cabler's empire, including five years as CEO.

In the reorg structure, Richard Plepler will become CEO while Eric Kessler has been upped to president and chief operating officer. Michael Lombardo will see his duties expand as president of programming. Kessler and Lombardo will report to Plepler.

In announcing the changes, Time Warner and HBO emphasized that the current HBO exec team has had a long and prosperous run of working together and stressed that the transition from Nelson to Plepler would be seamless.

Nelson has been a quiet but towering force during his tenure at HBO. An Army veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division in the Vietnam War, Nelson was upped to chairman-CEO at HBO in 2007, after Chris Albrecht's hasty exit from the company. Nelson began his career at Time Inc. in 1979 and segued to HBO in 1984.
read more here