NEW YORK (AP) - Vice Media on Tuesday appointed Nancy Dubuc, the former head of the A&E Networks, to be its chief executive as the company tries to rebound from sexual misconduct allegations.
Dubuc had stepped down Monday at A&E. She’s been a Vice board member and worked with the company to develop the Viceland cable network. Shane Smith, the company’s co-founder, said that he’ll let Dubuc run the company as he concentrates on making deals and creating content.
Vice has grown exponentially since its founding as a rock fan magazine in Canada in the early 1990s. It produces news and lifestyle material over a variety of platforms and is especially popular among young consumers.
Smith said he will become the company’s executive chairman.
“I get to work with one of my best friends and media heroes,” he said. “We are a modern day Bonnie and Clyde and we are going to take all of your money.”
Dubuc called it one of the rare moments in a career to work with the creative people at Vice.
Vice has apologized for a “boy’s club” culture at Vice that was uncovered in an investigation by The New York Times, which said it had talked to more than two dozen women who had experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct there. Vice suspended its president, Andrew Creighton, and chief digital officer, Mike Germano, in January as it investigated allegations against them. The Times said it had found four settlements involving harassment or defamation accusations.
Vice promised to make half of its workplace female by the year 2020 and have pay parity by the end of this year.
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