Top CNN Executive Ken Jautz To Depart At End Of Year

Ken Jautz, a 36-year veteran of CNN who has been part of its leadership team, will depart at the end of the year.

CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson said in a memo to staffers that Jautz “has decided he is ready for a new chapter.”

Jautz has most recently served as executive vice president, operations. He also was a member of “the quad,” one of four interim leaders of the network after the exit of Chris Licht and the arrival of Thompson months later.

Thompson wrote, “It is difficult to capture the impact Ken has had on our brand. He covered many of the international stories that helped put CNN on the map, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the First Gulf War, he was instrumental in enabling CNN to become the first network to broadcast live coverage from a warzone. He helped organize coverage of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other domestic stories.”

Thompson wrote that John Courtney and John Davies’ operations groups, along with Paul Crum and Ed Stephen’s Newsource teams, will report to COO David Leavy. The graphics, design and lighting teams led by Guy Pepper “will move to Eric Sherling’s programming organization.” Sherling serves as executive vice president, U.S. programming.

Jautz was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press before he became CNN’s bureau chief in Germany. He also worked at Turner Broadcasting Europe as a business development executive in London, then as the managing director of n-tv in Germany. He was EVP of CNN’s business news unit from 2001 to 2004, and then oversaw HLN, revamping and rebranding the CNN Headline News network. He oversaw CNN/U.S. programming from 2010 to 2013.