Vivian Schiller Named Chief Digital Officer at NBC News

Vivian Schiller has been named chief digital officer of NBC News. The announcement came Thursday from NBC News president Steve Capus.

“Bringing Vivian on board enhances this network’s mission of growth and the evolution of its digital businesses and strategy. With Vivian's help, NBC News will be recognized as the premier broadcast news organization in America, as well as the most innovative, comprehensive and trusted news operation,” Capus said in a statement. “Her background in journalism, combined with expertise in the digital space will add a strong new pillar to the NBC News leadership team.”

Speculation surfaced yesterday that the former NPR chief was poised to join the news organization. Schiller stepped down from NPR last March in the wake of the controversial decision to dismiss Juan Williams in part for comments he made during appearances on Fox News Channel.

Schiller will report to Capus. She starts her new job in mid-July. She’ll be tasked with leading digital strategy for both NBC News and MSNBC including oversight of the network’s digital extensions on the web and in mobile as well as providing direction to the network’s new emerging properties such as educationnation.com and theGrio.com.

Prior to her stint at NPR, Schiller held executive positions at NYTimes.com, Discovery Times Channel and CNN Productions.