CBS Promotes Joseph Ianniello To COO

Joseph Ianniello today was named chief operating officer of CBS Corp. In this new role, Ianniello will continue to oversee all financial operations and work closely with CBS President-CEO Leslie Moonves and senior management to maximize the monetization of the company content, including oversight of negotiations for digital streaming, retransmission consent fees and reverse compensation from affiliates. In this five-year agreement, he will continue to report to Moonves and be based in both New York and Los Angeles.

“Joe’s role in CBS’s success these past several years has been extraordinary,” said Leslie Moonves. “He’s been a game-changing CFO, but he’s also so much more than that. He is a tough negotiator, a great manager, and someone who brings energy, passion and a great sense of teamwork to anything he does. He is also someone who has developed incredible trust and admiration on Wall Street, with our shareholders, our board of directors and my superb senior management team, of which he is an integral part. I am proud to promote Joe to this new position, which not only recognizes the many contributions he has already made, but sets him up for all the great work yet to be done.”

Ianniello was named chief financial officer of CBS Corp. in 2009. Before that, he was deputy chief financial officer, responsible for the company’s financial strategy across its operations, in addition to worldwide treasury, tax, information systems and technology, corporate development — including mergers and acquisitions — and risk management. Prior to that, Ianniello was SVP, chief development officer and treasurer.

Before the separation of CBS and Viacom Inc., Ianniello held several key roles at Viacom, including SVP and treasurer (2005) and VP of corporate development (2000-05), where he was involved in identifying and assessing potential mergers and acquisitions for the company.

Ianniello is a graduate of Pace University (bachelor’s of business administration) and Columbia University (master’s of business administration).