Tribune Co. names new C.O.O. & C.I.O.

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: Tribune Co. names new chief operating officer : By Michael Oneal : Tribune staff reporter : 4:18 p.m. CST, December 10, 2009 : Tribune Co. continued to reshuffle its top management team Thursday with the announcement that Gerry Spector, 63, would become chief operating officer of the Chicago-based media conglomerate, which has spent that past year in bankruptcy court. : Spector will oversee Tribune's publishing, broadcast and Internet operations, taking over from Randy Michaels , who replaced real estate magnate Sam Zell as chief executive of the company earlier this month. Zell remains as board chairman. : Both Michael and Spector, who had been chief administrative officer, joined the company in 2007, when Zell took control of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, through an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout. They have overseen a full slate of cost-cutting and other restructuring moves as the company has wrestled with an industry downturn that prompted a Chapter 11 filing in December a year ago. : Tribune Co. also announced that Chandler Bigelow, chief financial officer, will expand his role by taking over some of Spector's former responsibilities. Bigelow, 40, will oversee financial operations for the publishing division, as well as human resources for the corporate office. : Nils Larsen, 39, who had been executive vice president and a key player in both selling the Chicago Cubs and helping to restructure the company's finances, has been appointed chief investment officer. The company said in a release that Larsen will continue to be deeply involved in the Chapter 11 process and will add responsibility for business development and identifying investment opportunities. : Even as Zell's team reorganizes itself with an eye toward eventually emerging from bankruptcy court, Tribune Co.'s creditors ultimately will decide whether they will stay on to run the company. : The precise ownership structure of the post-Chapter 11 company is still being negotiated, but a plan to swap Tribune's $13 billion debt burden for equity will almost certainly give some combination of creditors ownership of the media conglomerate, erasing Zell's ownership position. The creditors then will pick their own board of directors, which will choose its own management team. : Sources close to the situation have said it is still unclear how Michaels fits into the senior lenders' thinking.

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