Soo Kim
Managing Partner, Standard General
Mr. Kim is the Founding Partner of Standard General and is the firm’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. He has been investing since 1997, including as co-founder of Cyrus Capital Partners from 2005 to 2007 and at Och-Ziff Capital Management from 1999 to 2005, where he was a Principal and co-founder of its fixed income business. Before joining Och-Ziff, Mr. Kim was an analyst for the Capital Management Group at Bankers Trust Company from 1997 to 1999. Mr. Kim is also a Director of Coalition for Queens, a Director and Treasurer of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and the President of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association. He holds an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
“One of our key initiatives is to give our communities a voice…We want to partner with community journalism groups to amplify the work they’re doing and the communities they represent. We’re open to exploring new partnership models to get diverse viewpoints and perspectives on the air and to make sure people have the resources to do it…More diversity is needed throughout the broadcast industry, and now I find myself in a position where I can make an impact.”
Soo Kim
Deb McDermott
CEO, Standard Media Group
Deb McDermott leads Standard Media as its Chief Executive Officer. She brings over twenty years of experience leading broadcast groups, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Media General and the Chief Executive Officer and President of Young Broadcasting. In these roles, Ms. McDermott served as a key member of the leadership teams responsible for the successful acquisition and integration of more than 90 stations. During her tenure at Young Broadcasting, she guided that Company through a series of successful mergers, including transformative transactions with Media General and Lin Media, and finally a sale to Nexstar Broadcasting. Ms. McDermott is also a member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and has served as Chair of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), Chair of the ABC Affiliate Board of Governors, and as a member of the Boards of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB).
“We’re committed to local news. I have a journalism background. Soo Kim has strong feelings about journalism and our commitment to it and investing in it. This is going to be a really special transaction because it creates by far the largest minority-owned and female-led TV broadcast company in the U.S. This is really furthering the commission’s goals of increasing diversity in broadcast stations ownership and management.”
Deb McDermott
read MORE FROM SOO KIM AND DEB MCDERMOTT:
Kim: Standard General’s Broadcast Vision
Having been born in South Korea when it was only nominally a democracy and under martial law, I don’t take our system of government for granted. The United States has given my family and me an incredible opportunity, and I am fortunate to have been able to make the most of it. More than fifteen years…
McDermott: Local Journalism Plays Key Role in the Age of Opinion
When it comes to news, we find ourselves living in a world with access to more and more information, but we are somehow less informed. Instead of being provided facts, we increasingly are told how to think about something — many times not even knowing what that something really is. On many platforms, the line between…