New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Don Benson, president and CEO of Lincoln Financial Media today received the Media Financial Management Association's (MFM's) Avatar Award, its highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the communications industry and exemplary role in community service.
The Award was presented in conjunction with Media Finance Focus 2015, the 55thannual conference for MFM and its BCCA subsidiary, which is currently underway in Phoenix, AZ.
"If you are familiar with our company, you know that due diligence is something that we have been engaged in a lot lately," Benson said when accepting the award. "And when I conducted some due diligence on this award, which has been presented to people I have long admired, including Clifford Kirkland, Jim Dowdle, Stanley Hubbard and
David Kennedy, I was even more humbled to be named one of its recipients."
With the term "avatar" representing the embodiment of a known model or category, MFM selected it for the name of its highest award to an industry leader. It was first presented in 1983; past recipients have included Cox chairman, Clifford Kirkland; Turner CEO, R.E. Ted Turner; Tribune Broadcasting president & CEO, Jim Dowdle; Hubbard Broadcasting president & CEO, Stanley Hubbard; UPN Television president & CEO, Lucie Salhaney; Former FCC Commissioner,
James Quello; award-winning journalist and humanitarian Deborah Norville; TV One president & CEO Jonathan Rodgers;
David Kennedy, president & CEO of Susquehanna Radio, Kenneth W. Lowe, president & CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, and AMC Networks' president and CEO Joshua Sapan.
In presenting the award to Benson, LFM CFO and past MFM Board member
Laura James cited his embodiment of these essential leadership qualities: 1.) clear sense of what is important; 2.) clear set of values; 3.) gives his all to his industry commitments; 4.) selflessness and acceptance of others; 4.) ability to overcome all obstacles and 5.) inspires everyone around him.
As president and chief executive officer of Lincoln Financial Media Company (LFMC), Benson has overall responsibility for the company's operations of 15 radio stations in Atlanta, Miami, San Diego, and Denver. In December, 2104, LFMC agreed to be acquired by Entercom Communications in a transaction that is expected to close by the second quarter of this year.
Benson, who has served as president and CEO of LFMC since 2008, joined the company in 2006 when it merged with Jefferson-Pilot. He spent more than 20 years with Jefferson Pilot, including serving as senior vice president of operations/programming for Jefferson Pilot's
Radio Division for 10 years and as president of the Jefferson Pilot
Radio from 2005 until its merger with LFMC.
Benson began his radio career at WMAK/Nashville before joining Jefferson Pilot in 1974 as a programming assistant at WQXI AM/FM in Atlanta, where he later became the station's operations manager. Benson also has served as vice president of operations of KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and as corporate vice president of programming for Western Cities Broadcasting's seven-station group. In addition, he served as an executive vice president of operations for Burkhart/Douglas & Associates, an Atlanta-based consulting firm.
A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Benson was inducted into its Student Media Hall of Fame in 2010. For each of the last ten years, he has been named to
Radio Ink's list of "The 40 Most Powerful People in Radio." In addition, he was chosen by
Radio Ink as the "2014
Radio Ink
Radio Executive of The Year." He was also inducted into the Georgia
Radio Hall of Fame, which selected him for its Career Achievement Award in 2009. Benson is currently serving his third term as
Radio Board chair and is a member of the executive committee of the
National Association of Broadcasters. Benson is also a member of the board of directors of the
Radio Advertising Bureau and previously served as chair of the Arbitron Advisory Council, representing the top 50 continuously rated radio markets.
About Media Finance Focus 2015:
MFM/BCCA's annual conference serves as the industry's primary source of professional education for the media industry's business and credit management executives, including its newspaper, television, radio, cable, online, mobile and other digital media enterprises.
Additional information about Media Finance Focus 2015 may be found on the conference Web site: www.mediafinancefocus.org.
About MFM and BCCA:
Media Financial Management Association (MFM) is the premiere resource for financial professionals for media industry education, networking, and information sharing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More information about MFM is available on its Web site: https://www.mediafinance.org. Its BCCA subsidiary serves as the media industry's credit association. BCCA's revenue management services include a variety of credit reports on national and local media advertisers and EMCAPP - the Electronic Media Credit Application. More information about BCCA and EMCAPP is available at https://www.bccacredit.com and www.emcapp.com.
