ATLANTA—Gray Television Inc. has announced that chief financial officer Jim Ryan has notified the Company of his voluntary decision to transition into retirement after 2025. Gray and Jim have agreed that he will remain with Gray as a senior advisor through his retirement to assist with a seamless transition of his duties.
To succeed Jim as CFO, Gray announced the hiring of Jeff Gignac, who currently serves as a managing director and head of media & telecom investment banking at Wells Fargo Securities. Gignac has worked closely with Ryan and the Company as one of its lead bankers for the past several years.
Gignac will join Gray, initially as executive vice president, finance, on April 1, 2024, and he will step into Ryan’s role as executive vice president, chief financial officer on July 1, 2024. Ryan will work closely with Gignac and the entire Gray executive team until he retires from the Company at the end of 2025.
Ryan joined Gray as its CFO in 1998 upon our acquisition of Busse Broadcasting, where Jim had also served as CFO. In the ensuing 25 years, Jim’s role remained the same, but the position became ever more complicated as Gray grew from a small regional media company to the nation’s second largest broadcast company. During his tenure, Gray entirely divested its newspapers, paging, satellite uplink and other businesses, while acquiring scores of television stations through multiple transactions including those involving Bostick Broadcasting (1999), Benedek Broadcasting (2002), the University of Notre Dame (2006), Yellowstone Television (2013), Hoak Media (2014), SJL Holdings (2014), Schurz Communications (2016), Raycom Media (2019), Quincy Media (2021), Meredith Corporation (2021), and many others.
“Jim has made tremendous contributions to Gray Television during his 25-year tenure,” said Gray’s executive chairman and CEO Hilton Howell. “He has helped guide the Company through a period of tremendous growth, innovation, and transformation that has made Gray the industry leader that we are today. His steady leadership will be missed but will not be forgotten.”
Gignac will join Gray after a nearly 20-year career with Wells Fargo. Prior to his current leadership position, He spent 18 years in leveraged finance, focused on the telecom, media and technology (TMT) industries. Prior to Wells Fargo, he worked at Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He holds a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a licensed CPA in the State of Georgia.
“We are fortunate that Jeff Gignac will join Gray’s senior leadership team as our next CFO,” said Hilton Howell. “Over the past several years, Jeff has led our debt financing efforts for the Raycom and Meredith transactions and the AR securitization facility. Importantly, Jeff helped to ensure that we raised capital on advantageous terms to facilitate our transformation into a leading multimedia company. With Gray’s current focus on deleveraging and prudent balance sheet management, Jeff is the perfect candidate to lead our finance functions for the next chapter of our corporate history.”
