Next month, the WVU Reed College of Media will honor more than 200 prospective May and August graduates during the University’s Commencement weekend. Along with comments from Dean Maryanne Reed and University officials, ESPN executive Rob King will deliver the keynote address.
King, Senior Vice President for ESPN “SportsCenter” and News, oversees all of SportsCenter and ESPN’s newsgathering operations and leads future efforts of the company’s biggest sub-brand.
Just five months into his current position, King was named by Fast Company among its Most Creative People 2014.
Previously, as Senior Vice President, Content, ESPN Digital Print Media, King was responsible for all content and the overall editorial direction of ESPN’s leading portfolio of digital and print sports properties, including text, audio, video and multimedia content. He also oversaw management of the award-winning team of more than 200 editors, writers and designers across ESPN.com and its network of related sites, ESPN The Magazine and espnW. King worked with ESPN’s many news, information and programming units to develop greater cross-platform integration and development of cross-media franchises.
In June 2007, he served as Vice President and Editor-In-Chief of ESPN.com, before adding oversight of digital video and audio content as well as all editorial content on ESPN’s local sites. In 2004, he was senior coordinating producer in the studio production unit, responsible for (at various times): ESPN’s award-winning NBA studio programming; the award-winning “Outside the Lines”; ESPN’s on-location coverage of major golf events, including the Masters and the U.S. Open; and ESPNEWS, the nation’s only 24-hour sports news television network.
King began his career in the newspaper business. From 1997-2004, he was at The Philadelphia Inquirer,serving as graphic artist, deputy sports editor, assistant managing editor and deputy managing editor. Prior to that, King worked at the Louisville Courier-Journal a graphic artist, director of photography and presentation editor. From 1987 through 1992, he worked at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J., a major suburban Philadelphia paper. His first job was with the Commercial-News in Danville, Ill., as a general assignment reporter and graphic artist.
King received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wesleyan University in 1984. In 1986, he attended Penn State, studying Journalism as part of the School of Communication’s inaugural graduate class. He is a proud former member of the Daily Collegian staff.
The Reed College of Media’s May Commencement ceremony will be at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, at the Creative Arts Center. It is a ticketed event reserved for graduates and their guests.