David Rehr Is New Leader of NAB

It’s official. David Rehr walks into NAB as its new president and chief executive officer Dec. 5. His choice had been rumored for weeks, and the NAB Board announced it today.
Rehr is president and chief lobbyist for the National Beer Wholesaler’s Association, a position he has held since 2000. He succeeds Eddie Fritts, who held the NAB job since 1982 and is considered to be among the most visible leaders of a lobbying organization on Capitol Hill.
The National Beer Wholesaler’s Association represents more than 2,200 businesses that distribute malt beverage products.
Rehr is credited by some as being good at generating funds. He made the top lobbyist list this spring in The Hill, a newspaper covering Capitol Hill, which wrote, “Under Rehr’s leadership, the beer wholesalers’ political action committee has grown to be the fifth most generous in politics, doling out over $2.3 million in the last election cycle.”
Rehr became president of NBWA in 2000; previously, he was SVP/Government Affairs for the association.
Prior to joining NBWA, Rehr served as director for Federal Governmental Relations, House, for the National Federation of Independent Business; he also worked for former Republican Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota and as a staff member for the House Small Business Committee.
As reported earlier here, Fritts signed a contract extension in 2004 and a consultant deal that will extend until 2008.
NAB Joint Board Chairman Phil Lombardo, the chief executive officer of Citadel Communications, and Immediate Past Joint Board Chair David Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of Susquehanna, co-chaired the search committee.
Lombardo and Kennedy retained executive search firm Spencer Stuart to identify possible candidates, the same firm now being used by the Radio Advertising Bureau to fill Gary Fries’ position.