Who

Mike Pilot is the head of sales at NBC Universal.

Backstory

Pilot joined General Electric straight out of college in 1984. Working his way up the ladder, in 2002 he was named CEO of the massive—but unglamorous—equipment finance division, which generates $25 billion in sales financing the purchase of everything from planes to dump trucks to oil wells. What tractor-trailers have to do with television airtime is anybody's guess, but in December 2006, GE's chief Jeff Immelt dispatched Pilot to NBC to serve as the company's ad sales chief, replacing longtime NBC Universal ad sales czar Keith Turner. Of course, bringing in an outsider is a tradition of sorts at GE: Former NBC chair Bob Wright took over the entertainment subsidiary after working in GE's finance division in 1986, and arrived to similar skepticism. These days, Pilot, who is also responsible for research and planning as well as ad sales for NBC's digital media division, reports to NBCU chief Jeff Zucker.

Of note

As surprising as it was to bring in someone with such scant entertainment industry experience, NBC was in desperate need of a shake-up and both Immelt and Zucker are hoping the magic that Pilot worked with jet engines and chemical factories now extends to 30-second slots during primetime. NBC is dead last in ratings among the Big Four TV networks and although shows like Tina Fey's 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights have garnered praise from critics, they haven't managed to attract much of an audience. With Heroes and Sunday Night Football the only real ratings-grabbers on NBC's lineup, Pilot weathered a rough inaugural upfront in May 2007—NBC pulled in fewer ad dollars than its rivals. But he needn't worry about another lackluster showing at the 2008 upfronts: In a first, NBC moved to a year-round programming schedule in 2008, which allows Pilot to bypass the annual fall upfronts and attendant hoopla. If the gimmick falls short and Pilot's department continues to underperform, you can expect an import from, say, GE's water desalination subsidiary to take over sometime in 2009.

No joke

Pilot is well aware of the similarities between himself and Alec Baldwin's character on 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy. (Like Pilot, Donaghy winds up in TV land after heading up an unsexy division of parent company GE.) "I'm looking forward to playing the real-life counterpart to the character," Pilot said after taking the gig.

Personal

Pilot lives in Avon, Conn. with his wife, Yvonne, and daughter, Lindsay.

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