CBS ad vet Dean Kaplan retiring, succeeded by Russ Behrman – Info Advertisement

CBS advertising veteran Dean Kaplan is retiring, effective today, from his position as exec VP of sales strategy, planning and administration.

Kaplan, who has led the planning, estimating and pricing of all commercial TV inventory at CBS, had been with the network for nearly four decades. He will be succeeded by Russ Behrman, who has been at CBS for 34 years and has been running the TV network sales planning group since 1996.

“Russ has always aimed to sell the buying power of the entire CBS audience in innovative, sophisticated ways, and he has succeeded again and again,” said Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer at CBS in a staff memo.

The announcement comes as CBS CEO Leslie Moonves is under investigation after a New Yorker expose detailed a half dozen claims of sexual misconduct against the media titan. CBS directors met on Monday and said they are in the process of selecting outside counsel to conduct and independent investigation. No other action was taken, and at least for now, Moonves remains at the company in his regular day-to-day duties.

Kaplan had planned to retire before these allegations surfaced.

“After he finishes up here, Dean plans to spend time with his family, travel with his wife, maybe take a course and learn something new,” Ross said. “We will miss him greatly, but know he will take full advantage of this next chapter.”