LeGeyt Succeeds Ornelas as NAB COO

NAB chief operating officer Chris Ornelas is leaving the National Association of Broadcasters Feb. 1. According to NAB President Gordon Smith, Curtis LeGeyt, head of government relations for NAB, will succeed Ornelas as COO. 

Ornelas has been tapped to join Beasley Media Group as general counsel. 

 Related: NAB Names Ornelas COO 

Ornelas has been with NAB since May 2010, initially as executive VP and chief strategy officer. He was named COO in 2011. 

Before that, Ornelas had been chief counsel to then senator Gordon Smith (r-Ore.). 

LeGeyt has been with NAB since 2011. Before that he had been senior counsel to then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). 

“I’m grateful for the remarkable accomplishments that NAB has made on behalf of our radio and TV members over the last decade, and Chris Ornelas and Curtis LeGeyt have been instrumental in that success,” said Smith in a statement. 

In other high-level NAB appointments, NAB senior VPs April Carty-Sipp, Shawn Donilon and Trich Johnson have been named executive VPs. 

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.