Dennis Patton, who helped launch National Geographic Channel in January, will leave the network at the end of the month, officials said last week.
Patton, National Geographic's executive vice president of marketing and new media, will do some consulting work for the channel and other clients after he leaves.
A veteran of Rainbow Media Holdings Inc., Patton has worked at National Geographic for about 11 months, he said. He came on board to help National Geographic president Laureen Ong, a business acquaintance of 17 years, get the new channel rolled out.
"We accomplished what we needed to do," Patton said.
He had been commuting to the channel's headquarters in Washington from his Manhattan home during his tenure.
Patton was senior vice president and general manager of MuchMusic USA from 1996 to 1999. He spent 15 years in total at Rainbow and held various jobs at Prism, SportsChannel Philadelphia and American Movie Classics, as well as MuchMusic.
"I've established a track record with start-ups," he said.
National Geographic Channel is owned by National Geographic Television and the Fox Cable Networks Group.
