Roger Lynch Joins Pandora As President

Roger Lynch

Pandora today announced that Roger Lynch will join the company as CEO and president, and a member of its board of directors, effective September 18, 2017.

Naveen Chopra, who has served as Pandora’s interim CEO since June 2017, will continue in his role as chief financial officer. In addition, Pandora announced it has also appointed Michael Lynton to its board of directors.

Pandora’s current chairman, Roger Faxon, on behalf of the Pandora board, stated “After a thorough and thoughtful search process, we are thrilled to have Roger join us as CEO and a member of our board. Roger brings a stellar leadership reputation, a wealth of consumer experience, and a lifelong passion for music to Pandora – all of which are critical ingredients in the continued evolution of our company. We are absolutely confident that Roger is the right leader for Pandora who can create value for shareholders by marrying Pandora’s numerous assets with the opportunities ahead. As I have said before, with ‘digital radio’ at the core of our business, and both ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ as new, integral parts of our arsenal, Pandora is now in an ideal position to leverage changing consumer behaviors to further expand and monetize our listening audience. We are very excited to welcome Roger as our CEO as we embark on our next chapter with renewed focus, a strong balance sheet, a strategic partnership with SiriusXM, and an incredible team of loyal and creative employees.”

Lynch has extensive experience leading, innovating and scaling consumer media and technology businesses globally, including having guided a number of companies through critical transformation periods. Through his media industry and subscription experience, he has frequently worked with large content providers to effect business models that embrace technological changes in distribution.

As the founding CEO of Sling TV, Lynch led the creation, launch and growth of Sling TV to become the #1 Live OTT service in the U.S. Prior to Sling TV, Lynch served as executive vice president, Advanced Technologies, for DISH Network and EchoStar Corporations.

“I cannot imagine a more important and exciting time to join Pandora,” said Lynch. “With a massive, diverse and highly engaged audience, a market-leading digital advertising business, a best-in-class product portfolio and an extremely passionate and talented group of people, Pandora is well-positioned to capture an even greater market opportunity. As a lifelong musician and exuberant music fan, this is the perfect opportunity to combine my industry experience with my love for music. I look forward to working with this great team, having a lot of fun, and leading Pandora through its next exciting phase.”