Where Are They Now: Brian Frons Is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at UCLA Anderson

Brian Frons at UCLA Anderson's 2016 Pulse Conference in February.

On December 2, 2011, ABC announced that its president of daytime Disney/ABC would be departing the company. After micromanaging the network's daytime soap operas and driving their ratings to record lows, and a failed attempt at turning the promising SOAPnet channel into a watered down version of Lifetime, ABC finally realized enough damage had been done. Unfortunately it was too late to save two beloved series, All My Children and One Life to Live. ABC's lone remaining daytime drama, General Hospital, was on its last legs when Frons was shown the door after nine years at the network, five as president, plus five years of running SOAPnet. So what has Frons been up to since leaving the network (probably with a very nice payout)? Since 2014, he has been a "distinguished visiting professor" at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

According to its website, Anderson is "the first top tier MBA program to offer an Entertainment Management Specialization. Our curriculum is designed to blend theory and practical application. Our world class faculty + leading industry executives provide student’s a broad understanding of the strategy and operating principles that drive the individual sectors of the media, entertainment & sports industries."

Frons is currently teaching two courses: "Making Creativity Profitable in Entertainment & Technology" and "Content Creation in Global Digital Age"

In February at UCLA Anderson’s 2016 Pulse Conference, Frons hosted a panel discussion featuring Jim Lanzone, president and CEO of CBS interactive; Tony Goncalves, senior vice president of strategy and business development at AT&T; Eric Johnson, executive vice president of global multimedia sales for ESPN; and Chris Moseley, chief marketing officer for game show network, to discuss the current media landscape and their views for the future.

You can watch the Frons-led discussion in the video below.