Allison Gollust is an American media executive. She worked as an executive vice president and the

chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a chief brand officer (CBO), is a C-suite corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including adver ...

CNN Worldwide Warner Bros. Discovery is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in New York City. The company works in the following areas: film, television, cable networks and publishing operations. The following is a lis ...

until February 2022. Gollust was

director of communications Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...

for

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...

from October 2012 to March 2013.

Career

Gollust worked as a news anchor, reporter, and producer in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. In 1997, she became a senior publicist for the ''Today'' show. Gollust later led communications for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

, and

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

. She became a chief spokeswoman and executive vice president of corporate communications at

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

. In October 2012, New York governor

named Gollust as his

communications director Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...

, replacing Richard Bamberger. She left her role on March 1, 2013 to join

. In February 2022, Gollust resigned from CNN after a probe found she had violated company policies.

CNN

Gollust was the executive vice-president and chief marketing officer at

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. In February 2021, Gollust was seen as a candidate to succeed

Jeff Zucker Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American businessman and media executive. Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide from 2013 to 2022. He oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously CEO of NBCUniver ...

if he stepped down as the CNN president. On February 3, 2022,

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

, citing an anonymous source, reported that Gollust and Zucker advised governor Andrew Cuomo on how to respond to

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's criticisms of Cuomo. This appeared to breach

journalistic ethics Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and good practice applicable to journalists. This subset of media ethics is known as journalism's professional "code of ethics" and the "canons of journalism". The basic codes and ...

. On February 15, 2022,

Jason Kilar Jason Alan Kilar (; born April 26, 1971) is an American businessman. He is a member of the boards of Wealthfront and Roblox, and was CEO of WarnerMedia, from May 2020 to April 2022. He was previously a five-year board member of Opendoor and w ...

, the CEO of CNN parent company WarnerMedia, stated in a memo that Gollust resigned from CNN after a

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...

commissioned investigation "performed by a third-party law firm and led by a former federal judge" found that she violated "Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices." The investigation was "commissioned in September" and concluded the weekend before she resigned.

Personal life

In 2013, Gollust lived in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

with her husband and two daughters. Gollust and her husband divorced in 2015.

Relationship with Jeff Zucker

In February 2022, Gollust and Zucker announced that they had a public and personal relationship that had turned romantic. Despite claiming that her sexual relationship with the CNN president developed in the past two or three years by that point in time, allegedly due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, many media personalities repudiated this claim of hers as a "lie" by saying that their controversial relationship had been known for far longer than that. For example, in her 2021 memoir book titled ''Going There'',

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...

asserts that both Gollust and Zucker had engaged in "inappropriate behavior" that was an "

open secret An open secret is information that was originally intended to be confidential but has at some point been disclosed and is known to many people. Open secrets are ''secrets'' in the sense that they are excluded from formal or official discourse, b ...

" for nearly ten years. It is believed by many people that their controversial relationship began as an

extramarital affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or solely em ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gollust, Allison Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople NBC executives CNN executives American women television producers