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Lance Frank – CBS News
CBS News
Lance Frank is executive vice president, head of communications, for CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, responsible for all internal and external communications across the division. He reports to Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, and Chris Ender, executive vice president and head of communications, CBS.
Frank was named head of communications for CBS News, Stations and CBS Media Ventures in September 2024. In this role, he leads all communications and publicity efforts for every CBS News program and platform, CBS News Digital, CBS Stations and the CBS Media Ventures portfolio. Additionally, Frank manages the executive communications strategies, media relations and internal communications for the division’s leadership.
Frank was promoted to executive vice president, communications, for CBS News and Stations and Media Ventures in January 2024, and before that, was the senior vice president of communications for CBS News, serving as deputy head of communications for the news division since 2020, overseeing communications strategies and media relations across the division. He joined CBS News in June 2011, after working in local newsrooms as a print and television reporter and producer.
At CBS, he has held roles of increasing responsibility in the newsroom and in the communications department. He was the first person hired as a CBS News associate, a program for young journalists to hone their skills and gain valuable experience at different units across CBS News. He later worked at Channel One News, a daily news program for schools across the country, and returned to CBS News as a production secretary for the “CBS Evening News.”
In 2012, Frank joined the CBS News communications team, where he helped launch “CBS This Morning” and later served as the principal publicist for the “CBS Evening News,” where he worked on award-winning coverage for the war in Syria, the 2012 presidential election and promoted coverage for major domestic and foreign news stories. He has since been promoted to several positions with public relations oversight of flagship broadcasts and platforms across the news division, including 60 Minutes, “Face the Nation,: the “CBS Evening News,” CBS News Streaming, all political, foreign and breaking news/special events coverage and the CBS News Race and Culture unit. Lance is a trusted adviser and media strategist to executives, anchors and key stakeholders across CBS News and has led the communications efforts for division-wide priorities and announcements, editorial and ratings achievements, investigative reports and special projects.
A native of Lake Charles, La., Frank is a graduate of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and has completed executive education courses at Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School and the London School of Economics.
Frank is a member of the LSU Manship School alumni board. He lives in New York with his family.
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Meet Pesto the Penguin, Australia’s nearly 50-pound baby penguin capturing hearts worldwide with its hefty fluff
An aquarium in Australia is now home to the biggest baby penguin it has ever seen. Pesto, a 9-month-old king penguin, has weighed in at just under 50 pounds — more than the weight of both his parents combined.
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium has been sharing Pesto’s journey since he hatched on Jan. 30. It didn’t take long for the fluffy baby animal to shock aquarium employees, but also win over their hearts. By April 24, when Pesto was just 3 months old, he already weighed 9.1 kilograms, about 20 pounds. According to the Associated Press, his foster parents Hudson and Tango weigh 11 kg, about 24 pounds, each.
“He eclipses them now, which also makes him look comically large,” Melbourne aquarist Jacinta Early told CBS News’ partner BBC.
Rod McGuirk / AP
By early September, the aquarium said Pesto weighed in at just over 46 pounds, and by the end of the month, the AP said Pesto had reached 49 pounds.
The aquarium says on its website that many factors contribute to Pesto’s “impressive weight.”
“Firstly, his biological dad, Blake, is our biggest and oldest penguin,” the aquarium says on its website. “Secondly, he’s had amazing parents raising him! So, the combination of good genes and good parents explains his current weight, but he will lose a lot of this when he fledges (develops his adult feathers).”
His “very healthy appetite” is also a factor, Early told the BBC. Pesto will eat up to 30 fish that are hand-fed to him ever day.
King penguins are the second-largest penguin species in the world, according to the American Bird Conservancy, and will typically fledge when they’re 14 to 16 months old. While male penguins are usually slightly larger than females, the Australian Antarctic Program says that the average penguin size is far below Pesto’s current size, with peak weights ranging between 10 and 15 kg — 22 to 33 pounds — during courting periods.
“If I poked him, my entire finger would completely [disappear] deep in his feathers,” Early said. “When he does start to fledge, he’ll lose a lot of that baby fluff, and he’ll also lose much of that weight, so he’ll slim down nice and sleek.”
Keepers at the aquarium told the Associated Press they expect him to end up at around 33 pounds after he loses “that really adorable baby fluff.”
Videos the aquarium has posted of Pesto have taken the internet by storm.
Even Katy Perry has joined in on the love for Pesto. In one TikTok that’s racked up more than 4 million views, aquarium staff members are seen dancing with Pesto to one of Perry’s songs. Perry responded, saying she “will come by and get a blessing” before her expected performance at the Australian Football League’s grand final.
“Our chonky King workin’ it,” the aquarium says in another video of the massive baby penguin walking behind one of the adult birds in the enclosure — with a strut that can only be described as a seemingly difficult waddle.
The Associated Press says that Pesto has been the only king penguin to hatch at the aquarium so far this year and the first since 2022. That year, there were just six hatchlings.
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Meet Pesto the Penguin, Australia’s nearly 50-pound baby penguin capturing hearts worldwide with its hefty fluff