Austin GM Stepping Down After 17 Years

By Kevin Eck 

KVUE general manager Patti Smith is leaving the Austin ABC affiliate.

My Statesman reports Smith told the staff she’ll be “open to whatever opportunities come her way.”

This is the end of a chapter,” Smith said. “It’s not the end of the book.”

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Smith told TVSpy her “target date is May 31, 2016,” which is “exactly 17 years after joining KVUE as its president and general manager.”

“Patti is a pioneer in this business,” said KVUE’s assistant news director Jenelle Shriner. “It’s because of Patti that women have a voice as news managers in journalism. Not to say there aren’t other women who have helped blaze the trail, but I can’t say ‘women like Patti’ because there is no one else like Patti.”

Smith joined KVUE in 1999 from KVEO in the Rio Grande Valley.

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