Former Cox Communications executive John Dyer will take the helm of Cox Enterprises as its new president and CEO on Jan. 1.
Dyer will assume leadership of the company following the retirement of outgoing CEO Jimmy W. Hayes. Dyer is currently Cox Enterprises’ chief operating officer.
“In the 36 years John has worked at Cox, he has always done a terrific job and always risen to meet every new challenge he was presented,” said Jim Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises. “Most recently, he has been an incredible chief operating officer and understands all our businesses. He is committed to our employees and our customers and I’m excited to work with John as he leads our company in an exciting future.”
Dyer will be responsible for the company’s four major subsidiaries: Cox Communications, Manheim, Cox Media Group and AutoTrader Group, as well as corporate functions including financial operations, human resources and administration.
In his most recent positions as chief operating officer and before then, chief financial officer of Cox Enterprises, Inc. from 2008-2013, he led a realignment of the company’s executive management team, strengthened the company’s balance sheet and oversaw more than $1 billion in acquisitions.
“I am honored and humbled to lead Cox, a company that values its employees, delivers superior products and services to its customers and strives to be a responsible and sustainable corporate partner in the communities in which we operate,” Dyer said. “We’ve been at the forefront of transformational change in the media, telecom and automotive industries for decades, and I am excited about the ways we’ll continue to grow our existing businesses and invest in future opportunities.”
Dyer joined Cox in 1977, spending most of his career in financial and operational roles to help build the company’s broadband and entertainment subsidiary into the third-largest cable provider in the nation. As the chief financial officer at Cox Communications from 2005-2008, Dyer was responsible for financial planning and also managed the company’s commercial services and cable advertising divisions: Cox Business and Cox Media respectively.
Prior to that position, he played a critical role as senior vice president of operations managing the company’s mergers and acquisitions as it integrated $10 billion in cable operations in the central and southwestern regions of the country. Dyer briefly worked for Times Mirror Cable, where he was vice president of operations, and returned to Cox when it acquired the company in 1995.
Cox Communications has reportedly expressed an interest in bidding on Time Warner Cable.
