Howard Stringer

Sir Howard Stringer (born 19 February 1942) is a Welsh-American businessman. He served as chairman of the board, chairman, president and CEO of Sony Corporation. He is also the head of the board of trustees of the American Film Institute and now serves as a non-executive director of the BBC.

Personal life
Stringer was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Marjorie Mary (née Pook), a Welsh schoolteacher, and Harry Stringer, a sergeant in the Royal Air Force. In July 1978, he married Jennifer A. Kinmond Patterson. They have two children.

His younger brother, Rob Stringer, was president of Sony Music Label Group.

Stringer attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire and 11 other secondary schools by the time he was 16. He received a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford in Modern History. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 31 December 1999, and appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2013.

Career
Stringer moved to the United States in 1965. After working at CBS's flagship station WCBS-TV for six weeks, he was drafted into the United States Army, and served as a military policeman in Saigon for ten months in the Vietnam War. He did not serve in combat, but was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement. Stringer returned to CBS, where he had a 30-year career. He started in a series of lowly jobs, including answering backstage phones for The Ed Sullivan Show. He then became a journalist, producer and senior executive. He became a naturalised American citizen in 1985. He served as president of CBS from 1988 to 1995, where he was responsible for all the broadcast activities of its entertainment, news, sports, radio and television stations.

Highlights of his career at CBS

 * Executive producer of "CBS Reports" (1976–1981)
 * Executive producer of "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" (1981–1984)
 * President of CBS News (1986–1988)
 * President of CBS, Inc. (1988–1995)

TELE-TV
Sir Howard Stringer left CBS in 1995 to set up TELE-TV, a media and technology company formed by US telecoms Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, and Creative Artists Agency in February 1995. He left two years later to join Sony.

Sony


Stringer began work at Sony in May 1997 as president of its US operational unit (Sony Corporation of America). He was made a Sony group executive officer in May 1998.

Since June 2005, he had been chairman and CEO of Sony overseeing the entire businesses of Sony, including its media and electronics subsidiaries such as the Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Financial Holdings. On 1 April 2009, he became president of Sony Corporation and ousted Ryoji Chubachi in what was seen as prelude to broader corporate restructuring. Stringer also serves as executive chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation of America. He has been president of Sony Broadband Entertainment Corporation since March 2000.

Stringer was head of the Sony Corporation of America and was promoted to the company's top position as the corporation overall was having trouble with losses and was facing increasing competition from rivals like Samsung, Sharp, Apple Inc. and Panasonic. With his experience primarily in the media industry, Stringer was responsible for the media business of Sony in the U.S. by overseeing the release of the Spider-Man film series, among others.

On 1 February 2012, Sony announced that Stringer would step down as president and CEO, effective 1 April to be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, executive deputy president and chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment. Stringer relinquished his title of chairman of Sony and became chairman of the board of Sony in June ('Chairman of Sony' and 'Chairman of the Board of Directors' are separate positions at Sony). In June 2013, Stringer retired as chairman of the board of Sony.

==Awards and honours ==
 * He received the U.S. Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement while serving in the Republic of Vietnam.
 * In 1996, he was awarded the First Amendment Leadership Award by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation.
 * In 1996, he was also inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
 * In May 1999, he received the UJA-Federation of New York's Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award.
 * In November 1999, he was inducted into the Royal Television Society's Welsh Hall of Fame.
 * On 31 December 1999, he received the title of Knight Bachelor from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
 * In February 2007, the Museum of Television and Radio awarded him with its Visionary Award for Innovative Leadership in Media and Entertainment.
 * He has been honoured by Lincoln Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The New York Hall of Science and The American Theatre Wing.
 * He received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of the Arts London.
 * In 2000, he received an honorary fellowship from Merton College, Oxford.
 * In 2001, he received an honorary fellowship from Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.