Sotheby's Appoints Tad Smith As President & CEO; Elects De Sole As Chairman

(RTTNews) - Sotheby's (BID) announced that its Board has appointed Tad Smith as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective March 31, 2015. Smith will also join the Sotheby's Board. He succeeds William Ruprecht who has served as CEO since 2000. Smith has been President and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Company since February 2014.

The company will separate the roles of Chairman and CEO. The Board has elected Lead Independent Director Domenico De Sole to succeed Ruprecht as Chairman of the Board.

Smith was previously President, Local Media at Cablevision Systems Corporation, where he was responsible for Cablevision Media Sales, News 12 Networks, and Newsday Media Group. Prior to joining Cablevision in 2009, Smith was at Reed Elsevier Group PLC, where he was most recently CEO of its U.S. business-to-business division.