Staab Named Chairman, NBCUniversal Local

Valari Dobson Staab has been promoted to chairman, NBCUniversal Local, it was announced today by Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. Staab becomes the first chairman for NBCUniversal Local, a division that includes more than 50 local businesses and is home to the largest bilingual TV newsrooms in the country’s top TV markets.

“Valari is an outstanding, innovative leader with a proven track record of success,” said Lazarus. “She has transformed our local business and is a valuable part of the NBCU management team.”

A broadcast veteran with more than 35 years of experience, Staab joined NBCUniversal in 2011 as president of the NBC Owned Television Stations group and quickly expanded or added investigative units. Two years later, she acquired oversight of the Telemundo owned stations and used NBCUniversal’s investment in its stations to transform all NBC/Telemundo owned stations to the multiplatform local news providers they are today. Earlier this month, NBC stations announced the launch of their streaming news channels on Peacock while Telemundo stations in key markets prepare to launch their very own streaming news channels later this year.

Last year, NBC’s Regional Sports Networks were integrated with the NBC/Telemundo owned stations helping to create the only network-owned local media division that can deliver audiences the very best in local sports, news and weather in English and Spanish and across any screen and multiple platforms. The Regional Sports Networks plan to debut their own direct-to-consumer products later this year. [Editor’s note: Following publication of this story, an NBCUniversal spokesperson said: “In a personnel-related announcement issued by NBCUniversal Local on Jan. 31, a reference to the NBC Sports Regional Networks’ direct-to-consumer plans was inadvertently included and was misleading. At this stage in the process, our DTC strategy is evolving as we assess options in each of the unique sports markets we serve. At this time, we don’t have any further details about launch plans including timing or markets. More information will be announced when available.”]

Amidst a pandemic, Staab helped the division usher in a new era of innovation in storytelling with the launch of NBCLX, a TV/streaming network designed to reach the next generation of local news audiences. Today, NBCLX serves as a hub for storytelling innovation that is helping the network and stations reach adults 18-45.

With her leadership, the division introduced NBC Spot On to the marketplace in early 2020, an advanced video advertising business for local/regional CTV and OTT advertisers that has helped to help boost advertisers’ reach with their intended audiences.

Staab has received numerous accolades for her work at NBCUniversal. She was named a 2022 NATPE Iris Award recipient, “Broadcaster of the Year” for 2016 by Broadcasting + Cable and Distinguished Alumni by the University of Texas at Tyler. The groups that she oversees have also been recognized with industry honors. Broadcasting + Cable selected NBCUniversal Local as “Multiplatform Broadcaster of the Year” for 2021 while TVNewsCheck named the division “Station Group of The Year” in 2020. In addition, Broadcasting + Cable chose the Telemundo Station Group as “Station Group of the Year” in 2017 for the stations’ work to super serve Spanish-speaking audiences across the country and Puerto Rico.

In 2018, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented the division with a National Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for “StormRanger,” the industry’s first mobile X-Band weather radar. To help improve the stations weather forecasting, Staab led the charge in creating the division’s exclusive network of state-of-the-art weather radars, the fourth largest weather radar network in the country, that include a fleet of StormRanger mobile weather radars and fixed radars that provide real-time weather information directly to station Meteorologists and English and Spanish-speaking audiences across the stations’ digital and mobile products.

Before joining NBCUniversal, Staab primarily worked at the ABC Owned Television Stations, where she served in a variety of roles in general management, research and creative services across several markets including KGO San Francisco. Before that, Staab worked in marketing and research for KPRC Houston and KLTV Tyler, Texas, where she started her broadcast career as a college student.

She serves on the boards of the NBCUniversal Foundation, Television Bureau of Advertising and the Broadcasters Foundation of America.