Board replaces chief executive

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

NEW YORK -- With Martha Stewart in prison, her company's board announced Thursday that it was replacing the president and chief executive, Sharon L. Patrick, with a television and publishing veteran who joined the board five months ago.

The surprise move means that Susan Lyne, the former president of ABC Entertainment who also founded and ran Premiere magazine, becomes one of the most powerful people at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She will report to Thomas C. Siekman, the chairman, and no doubt to Stewart as well, who at present has no title at the company but owns about 60 percent of the stock.

The company said in a statement that Patrick had informed the board of her wish to resign. In that statement, Patrick said she was leaving after 10 years "for personal and professional reasons."

Patrick had encouraged Stewart to start her company and orchestrated her exit from Time Inc., which had published her flagship magazine, Martha Stewart Living. She became chief executive after Stewart was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2003. Stewart was accused of lying to investigators about her 2001 sale of stock in ImClone Systems, and was convicted in March.