CBS Chooses Outside Director as Its Chairman

CBS Corp. has named a longtime outside director to become the company’s new chairman, leaving Mel Karmazin as the top executive in charge.

David McLaughlin will succeed Chairman Michael Jordan, who is retiring, and take the post of nonexecutive chairman starting Jan. 1, CBS said Wednesday. Karmazin, currently the company’s president, was tapped two months ago to assume Jordan’s role of chief executive.

Karmazin had been running CBS’ day-to-day operations since being named president in April. While guiding the company’s radio business to strong profit, Karmazin has been slashing jobs in a cost-cutting effort to return its flagship television network to profitability.

McLaughlin is the chairman and CEO of privately held Orion Safety Products, an Easton, Md.-based maker of highway safety flares. He has served on the board of the former Westinghouse Electric Corp., which acquired CBS in 1995 and took its name last year, since 1979.

McLaughlin currently serves on several corporate boards and on the board of governors of the American Red Cross. He is a former chairman and CEO of Toro Co. and former president of Dartmouth College.