Dish Names New Programming Chief, Top Lobbyist

Dish Network Monday named replacements for its chief programming negotiator and chief Washington lobbyist.

David Shull (left), who is currently Dish Network’s senior vice president of Asia operations and based in Hong Kong, will be returning to Denver as senior vice president of programming, succeeding Eric Sahl.

Sahl will be exiting the satellite provider at the end of the year “to pursue a new career opportunity,” Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said in a memo to employees Monday.

Shull will report to Tom Cullen, who is Dish’s executive vice president of corporate development. Shull joined Dish Network in 2004, and moved to Asia in 2006 to oversee operations there.

In addition, Chris Kuelling will come back to Denver from Europe to take the post of vice president of international programming, reporting to Shull. Kuelling joined Dish Network’s legal department in 2002, and has been in based in the Netherlands since 2006.

In his memo, Ergen also said that the company’s lobbyist, David Goodfriend, will work his last day at Dish this Friday, Dec. 12. Goodfriend is forming his own lobbying firm, and Dish Network will be his first client.

Lori Kalani, who joined Dish Network’s legal department in 2002, will move to Washington as the company’s director of government affairs, assuming many of Goodfriend’s duties. She will continue to report to Stanton Dodge, Dish’s general counsel.

News that Sahl and Goodfriend were leaving Dish broke last week.

Dish Network declined to comment on the executive team overhaul Tuesday.

But in his memo Ergen said of Sahl, “Eric has made significant contributions to our organization during his tenure here and I am very appreciative of his work. He will be missed and we wish him all the best as he begins his new endeavor.”