Lucie Salhany

{{Infobox person

| name = Lucie Salhany

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Lucille Susan Mady

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|05|25}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio U.S.

| nationality =

| other_names = Lucie Mady Salhany
Lucille Salhany Polcari

| occupation = Media executive

| years_active = 1967-present

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| parents = Haliam Jacob Mady
Matilda Thomas Mady

| spouse = John Polcari

| children = 2

}}

Lucille "Lucie" Salhany ({{langx|ar|لوسي صالحاني}}; born May 25, 1946){{cite web|title=Lucille S Salhany - United States Public Records|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJJ1-WB6D|website=FamilySearch|accessdate=17 November 2015}} is an American media executive of Jordanian and Lebanese Heritage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/14/business/profile-lucie-salhany-in-a-career-of-hits-a-rare-swing-and-a-miss.html|title=Profile: Lucie Salhany; In a Career of Hits, a Rare Swing and a Miss|last=Sims|first=Calvin|date=January 14, 2003|website=New York Times|access-date=}}{{cite book|title=Reference Library of Arab America: Arab Americans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yiwOAQAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Gale Group|location=Detroit, MI|isbn=978-0-7876-4175-7|pages=166–167|oclc=680280933}} Salhany was the first woman to head a broadcast television network in 1993 in the position as Chairwoman of Fox Broadcasting Company. She later created the United Paramount Network.{{cite news|last1=Sims|first1=Calvin|title=Profile: Lucie Salhany; In a Career of Hits, a Rare Swing and a Miss|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/14/business/profile-lucie-salhany-in-a-career-of-hits-a-rare-swing-and-a-miss.html?pagewanted=all|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=14 November 1993}}{{cite book|last1=Mogel|first1=Leonard|title=Making It in Broadcasting: An Insider's Guide to Career Opportunities|date=1994|publisher=Collier Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-020-34553-4|page=268|edition=1st Collier Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pe_HcTD16RgC&pg=PA268|accessdate=15 November 2015|oclc=654831539}} She has had over 30 years of experience in the entertainment business,{{cite web|last1=Seel|first1=Peter B.|title=Salhany, Lucy [sic] - U.S. Broadcasting Executive|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/salhanyluci.htm|website=Encyclopedia of Television|accessdate=15 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Dunkley|first1=Cathy|title=Catching up with . . . Lucie Salhany|url=https://variety.com/2004/film/news/catching-up-with-lucie-salhany-1117900108/|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=Variety|date=15 February 2004}} and during the height of her career, was one of the most powerful women at the C-Suite level.{{cite news|last1=Clark|first1=Kenneth R.|title=Making Waves: Lucie Salhany Takes A Front Seat On TV'ss Roller-coaster|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/04/12/making-waves-22/|access-date=17 November 2015|work=Chicago Tribune|date=12 April 1992}}{{cite news|last1=Diller|first1=Barry|last2=Frank|first2=Richard|last3=Hendricks|first3=John S.|last4=Hubbard|first4=Stanley|last5=Meyers|first5=Barry|last6=Roberts|first6=Brian L.|last7=Salhany|first7=Lucie|last8=Stringer|first8=Howard|last9=West|first9=Donald|last10=Wiley|first10=Richard|last11=Wright|first11=Robert C.|title=Interface Conference: Telecommunications Issues, Hosted by Broadcast & Cable Magazine|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?52192-1/telecommunications-issues|accessdate=17 November 2015|work=C-SPAN|date=9 November 1993}}

Early life

Salhany was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to father Halim "Hal" Jacob Mady, who was Jordanian, and mother Matilda "Tillie" Mady (née Thomas), who was Lebanese.{{cite web|title=Halim Mady mentioned in the record of Halim Mady and Matilda Thomas|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3GH-X2R|website=FamilySearch|accessdate=17 November 2015|date=23 October 1938}}{{cite web|last1=Salhany|first1=Lucie|title=Graduate Communication Series - Lucie Salhany|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoBJlaM88o|website=Lasell College|accessdate=15 November 2015|date=4 November 2014}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}{{cite web|last1=Pavelecky|first1=Alicia|last2=Taylor|first2=Ashley|title=The Lebanese Syrian American Junior League Records, Western Reserve Historical Society (MS 5030)|url=http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi0006.xml;chunk.id=adminlink;brand=default|website=Case Western Reserve Historical Society|accessdate=17 November 2015|location=Cleveland, OH|date=2009}} Her parents owned a grocery store in Cleveland.

Salhany graduated from Brush High School in Lyndhurst, Ohio, in 1964.{{cite web|title=Previous Wall of Achievement Inductees: 2007. Lucie Mady Salhany, Class of 1964|url=http://www.sel.k12.oh.us/PreviousWallofAchivementInductees.aspx|website=South Euclid Lyndhurst Schools|accessdate=17 November 2015}} Salhany attended Kent State University but after dropping out at age 19, she did not continue her education after more than a year.

Career

= TV Broadcasting =

In 1967, Salhany got a job as a secretary to the Program Manager at an independent TV station in Cleveland called WKBF-TV. She was continuously promoted, and after training by her boss, when she was 24, she took over his position as Program Manager of the station. In 1975, Salhany became program manager of the Boston TV station, WLVI-TV.

In 1979, Salhany become Vice President for Programming for Taft Broadcasting Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Salhany was responsible for bringing then local Chicago talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey to Taft in a syndication deal. Salhany also championed "The Arsenio Hall Show," "Hard Copy" and "Entertainment Tonight.”

In 1985, Salhany moved to Paramount Domestic Television in Los Angeles as president and supervised the production of shows like Entertainment Tonight, The Arsenio Hall Show, Hard Copy, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

= FOX =

In 1991, former Paramount colleague and newly hired FOX Broadcasting CEO Barry Diller asked Salhany to become Chairman of Twentieth Television. When Diller was fired four months later, Rupert Murdoch gave her Diller's job.{{cite news|last1=Zurawik|first1=David|title=Fox's First lady New network chief would rather talk about profitability than gender|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1993/01/11/foxs-first-lady-new-network-chief-would-rather-talk-about-profitability-than-gender/|access-date=15 November 2015|work=The Baltimore Sun|date=11 January 1993}} The position was Chairman of FOX Network.{{cite news|last1=Frank|first1=Richard|last2=Iger|first2=Robert A.|last3=Kalinske|first3=Thomas J.|last4=Katzenberg|first4=Jeffrey|last5=Laybourne|first5=Geraldine|last6=Salhany|first6=Lucie|last7=Sassa|first7=Scott|last8=Sherr|first8=Lynn|title=Electronic Media Summit, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Blurred Lines of Programming|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?53663-1/blurred-lines-programming|accessdate=17 November 2015|work=C-SPAN|date=11 January 1994}}

In 1993, Salhany was responsible for the development the late night show, The Chevy Chase Show,{{cite news|last1=Kolbert|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Media Business; Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/11/business/the-media-business-chevy-chase-s-ratings-deliver-frowns-at-fox.html|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=11 October 1993}} but it was canceled after 6 weeks on air, and was not well received by critics or affiliates alike.{{cite news|last1=Carter|first1=Bill|title=Chevy Chase's Show Canceled After 6 Weeks|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/18/arts/chevy-chase-s-show-canceled-after-6-weeks.html|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=18 October 1993}} The canceled show cost the network tens of millions of dollars. Although Salhany took the network from four nights of programming to seven nights of programming, and was responsible for creating the TV show, The X-Files, which was very successful, and brought the NFL to the network,{{cite web|last1=Salhany|first1=Lucie|title=2013 Commencement Speech|url=http://www.lasell.edu/Documents/Salhany-Commencement-Speech.pdf|website=Lasell College|accessdate=17 November 2015}} she left after three and a half years on her five-year contract, saying that Murdoch breached terms of her contract by not maintaining reporting structure. Salhany claimed Murdoch, in meetings in front of others, asked if she was a "fem-Nazi" and what her husband would think of things.{{cite news|last1=Lippman|first1=John|title=Head of Fox Broadcasting Is Resigning : TV: Lucie Salhany, who helped lure affiliates and the NFL contract, is said to be leaving because of clashes with Rupert Murdoch|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-07-fi-12932-story.html|access-date=17 November 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=7 July 1994}}

= UPN =

She moved back to Paramount as they were about to launch the United Paramount Network, also known as the UPN—which later merged with The WB.{{cite book|last1=Daniels|first1=Susanne|last2=Littleton|first2=Cynthia|title=Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXjv0LSL1GQC&pg=PA157|accessdate=2 May 2011|date=2007|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-134099-4|pages=157–|oclc=136783001}} Salhany was Chief Executive Officer of UPN from 1995 to 1997.{{cite news|last1=Fabrikant|first1=Geraldine|title=The Media Business: Chief of United Paramount Network Is Quitting|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/09/business/chief-of-united-paramount-network-is-quitting.html|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=9 May 1997}}

In 1997, after leaving UPN, Salhany moved to Boston, where her husband, a restaurateur, is based, and started a media consultancy business called JH Media. She told Variety in 2001: "It was time I left L.A." She explained that she was done with the TV business. “Television has changed from what it was,” she said. “I don’t want to be one of those people who look back and say ‘do you remember the good old days?’"”

From 1999 to 2002: Salhany was President/Chief Executive Officer of LifeFX Networks, Inc., a publicly held company that developed and patented technologies that create virtual human “stand-ins" as well as “Facemail,” which allows users to send email with a virtual face and voice.{{cite news |last1=Lais |first1=Sami |date=22 January 2001 |title=Is It Real, or Is It LifeFX? |work=Computerworld |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2590570/is-it-real--or-is-it-lifefx-.html |accessdate=15 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=Paula|title=Lost & Found: Lucie Salhany|url=https://variety.com/2001/digital/news/lost-found-lucie-salhany-1117798366/|accessdate=17 November 2015|work=Variety|date=1 May 2001}}

In 2003, Salhany co-founded Echo Bridge Entertainment, LLC.

= Hewlett-Packard =

Salhany joined the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Board of Directors in January 2002, in connection with the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corporation.{{Cite web|url=http://data.huffingtonpost.com/paypals/lucille-s-salhany|title=Lucille S. Salhany - Pay Pals - The Huffington Post|website=The Huffington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-04-13}} In 2002, she also became a member of the HR and Compensation Committee.{{Cite web|url=http://h30261.www3.hp.com/~/media/Files/H/HP-IR/documents/reports/2005/03proxy.pdf|title=2003 Annual Meeting of Shareowners Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Hewlett-Packard Company|access-date=}}

Salhany was appointed to the Audit Committee in September 2006. In the same month, she became the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/47217/000104746907000347/a2175536zdef14a.htm|title=2007 Annual Meeting of Stockholders|last=|first=|date=|website=Sec.gov|publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|access-date=}}

As a result of new leadership and heavy criticism of HP’s board, Salhany left HP’s board in 2011.{{Cite news|url=http://fortune.com/2012/05/08/how-hewlett-packard-lost-its-way/|title=How Hewlett-Packard lost its way|work=Fortune|access-date=2018-04-13|language=en}} Leo Apotheker, took over as chief of HP in November 2010 and brought in five new directors to diversify leadership.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hp-board/hewlett-packard-shakes-up-board-four-to-leave-idUSTRE70J6YG20110120|title=Hewlett-Packard shakes up board, four to leave|last=Madway|first=Gabriel|work=U.S.|access-date=2018-04-13|language=en-US}}

Leading up to Salhany’s departure, the HP board faced shareholder lawsuits and received criticism from analysts and shareholders, over the hiring of Apotheker. Of the 12-member board who voted to hire Apotheker, the majority of board members had never met Apotheker.{{Cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2011/01/20/technology/HP_board_of_directors/index.htm|title=4 HP directors step down after Hurd scandal - Jan. 20, 2011|author=Julianne Pepitone|website=money.cnn.com|access-date=2018-04-19}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/business/voting-to-hire-a-chief-without-meeting-him.html|title=Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him|last=Stewart|first=James B.|date=2011-09-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-04-19|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Leadership

ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Professional Advisory Board Member
American Media, Inc., Director
1997-2002: Compaq Computer Corporation, Board Member until its merger with Hewlett-Packard Company in 2002
2002-2011: Hewlett-Packard Company, Board Member
Emerson College, Trustee
ION Media Networks, Board Member{{cite web|last1=Monreal|first1=Leslie|last2=Rosenberg|first2=Michelle|last3=Garcia|first3=Richard|title=ION Media Networks Appoints Lucille S. Salhany and William A. Roskin to Board of Directors|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060626005706/en/ION-Media-Networks-Appoints-Lucille-S.-Salhany|website=Business Wire|accessdate=15 November 2015|date=26 June 2006}}
Lasell College, Advisory Council{{cite news|last1=Chase|first1=Brandon|title=Lucie Salhany to deliver 2013 commencement address|url=http://the1851chronicle.org/2013/03/01/lucie-salhany-to-deliver-2013-commencement-address/|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=Lasell College - 1851 Chronicle|date=1 March 2013}}
Screens Entertainment Association, Board Member{{cite news|last1=The Deadline Team|title=Screens Entertainment Association Launches For Multi-Multi-Platform Executives|url=https://deadline.com/2014/09/screens-entertainment-association-launch-lucy-salhany-sandy-climan-gerry-byrne-835961/|accessdate=15 November 2015|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=18 September 2014}}

Awards

1992: ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
1993: Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame{{cite web|title=The Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/broadcasting-cable-hall-fame/111492|website=Broadcasting & Cable|accessdate=15 November 2015|date=21 December 2010}}
1995: American Jewish Committee, Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award (first female recipient)
1995: American Women in Radio and Television, Silver Satellite Award
1996: Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors, Executive of the Year{{cite web|title=Executive of the Year: 1996 Lucie Salhany President and CEO United Paramount Network|url=http://caucus.org/events/eoty.html|website=Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors|accessdate=15 November 2015}}
1997: HELP Humanitarian Award
1997: Cable Financial Management Organization, Avatar Award{{cite web|title=Avatar Award|url=http://www.bcfm.com/index.aspx?PageID=348|website=Media Financial Management Association|accessdate=15 November 2015}}
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Silver Circle Award
2013: Lasell College, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters{{cite web|title=Groundbreaking Media Executive Lucie Salhany to Speak at Lasell College Commencement|url=http://www.lasell.edu/discover-lasell/news/groundbreaking-media-executive-lucie-salhany-to-speak-at-lasell-college-commencement-.html|website=Lasell College|accessdate=17 November 2015|date=14 February 2013}}

Personal life

Salhany is married to Boston restaurateur John Polcari, Jr. of Regina Pizzeria and Polcari's. They have two sons, Hal and Jake, whom they adopted from Beirut, Lebanon. She was previously married in the late 1960s.