Gollust to NBC U PR chief

Media relations vet upped to exec VP

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON

Gollust

NBC media relations vet Allison Gollust has been upped to exec veep of corporate communications at NBC Universal.

Gollust will oversee all communications for the company and its execs as well as its corporate philanthropy and community relations efforts. Gollust, who was previously senior veep and head of communications for NBC News, reports to NBC U prexy-CEO Jeff Zucker.

Zucker praised Gollust's "broad knowledge of this company (and) of the media landscape at large" in announcing the promotion.

Gollust succeeds Cory Shields, who was upped last month to a newly created corporate post as exec veep of global policy strategies and alliances.

Gollust first joined NBC as a publicist in its corporate communications department. In 1998 she became a senior publicist for "Today," where she worked closely with Zucker during his tenure as exec producer of the ayemcast. She took on broader PR responsibilities for the news division in 2002 and was upped to senior veep in 2005.

During her stint in the news division, Gollust earned her stripes by overseeing media relations for such events as the "NBC Nightly News" anchor transition from Tom Brokaw to Brian Williams, the "Today" handoff from Katie Couric to Meredith Vieira and the appointment of David Gregory as "Meet the Press" anchor following the death last year of Tim Russert.