ABC Foreign Correspondent Scott Shuster in 1980

In 1982 Scott took one year off, went to the IMEDE (IMD) business school In Lausanne, Switzerland and earned an MBA.  

ABC News offered Shuster staff postings as Bureau Chief for Africa (Johannesburg) and staff correspondent positions with Peter Jennings (in London at the time) and with Pierre Salinger in Paris, but Shuster, now more 'personally' than 'professionally' oriented -- chose to remain in Geneva with his wife.

By the late 1980's, the television news industry was changing rapidly due to increased competition from cable, which fragmented network audiences and resulted in tightened purse strings and reductions in foreign coverage.  Shuster left ABC News, returned with his wife to the United States, and settled in the Big Apple.  After being married for 10 years, the Shusters started a family and their daughter Victoria was born in 1988.

Shuster was intrigued to learn that McGraw-Hill, the owners of BusinessWeek, had started a conference development group to create annual events for the CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs of large corporations.  BusinessWeek needed someone to lead the editorial development of the events as well as lead the conferences…someone who knew business and had an ability to handle live interview situations on stage in various locations around the world.  Shuster's many years of broadcast experience and a diploma in business made him the perfect candidate.  Shuster joined BusinessWeek and hired a staff, creating and running the product development and editorial activities of the division for seven years internationally.  Scott created the BusinessWeek CEO Summit and has chaired that event annually since 1988.  "Some years we do 12 or 14 events for BusinessWeek, all for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs - all the most senior figures of world business - in the US, Western Europe, Russia, and East Asia."

In 1994, faced with overwhelming demand for his services, Scott switched to a contractual relationship with McGraw-Hill, under which he left the staff, but continues to chair all their events. Scott chairs discussions with the business world's top business and political leaders before the most elite corporate audiences. 

Scott Shuster (far left) with King Abdullah II

In October of 2002 he was summoned to Jordan to chair a meeting for His Majesty King Abdullah II: "What a great guy," says Scott.  He has had multiple encounters with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.  "I think he's really open about himself," observes Shuster of the mega-billionaire.  "He doesn't have anything to prove and doesn't try to pose.  I challenge him and he takes it with a smile."

Bill Gates in a lively discussion with Scott Shuster

One of the things Shuster learned at Channel 13 was to never again allow his work to overtake his personal life.  The reassessment he started during the 18-month sabbatical in Indian Rocks Beach has continued:  While reporting from Sri Lanka, Shuster began to learn about Buddhism, and for six years he was one of the official Buddhist Community hosts on America Online, conducting weekly discussions of Buddhist mentality and religious principles.   

WTVT was only a three-year part of Scott Shuster's journey, but it was a significant part. 

"I'm a classic example of why it's beneficial to develop a talent and work hard with it when you are very young,” says Shuster.  "I benefit every day from skills that I honed in my mid-and-late-teens.  Immediately after that I landed at WVTV and WTVT for what was an enormously important period and experience in my life.  "WTVT taught an extremely immature anchorboy that he could focus on being what he wanted to be and achieve that.  And I was given the opportunity to mine that for all it was worth.  I'm immensely grateful to Joe Loughlin for recognizing my potential when I was still in my teens, and to Hugh Smith, who allowed this young person to excel.  Charlie Allen, Cy Smith, Jule McGee, Ray Blush, Andy Hardy, Leslie Schissell, Sara Golinveaux. . . these are people who, just by going about their daily work, set examples that had and still have impact in my life.  I'll never forget them."
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Pulse Extra: In 2005 Scott was invited by BIG 13 webmaster Mike Clark to be a presenter at the WTVT Employee Reunion.  Scott accepted and was present when 250 current and former employees convened in Tampa for the station's 50th anniversary reunion.  Scott gave a wonderful tribute to Pulse Plus! producer Joe Wiezycki and screened a clip from Wiezycki's camp classic film 'Satan's Children'.  One of the reunion event's highlights was a musical tribute to Ernie Lee performed by Scott and Robin Fellows.  It was a terrific event and Scott proved once again that he is a talented communicator!
 

Scott Shuster and Robin Fellows in musical tribute to Ernie Lee (2005)

Here is a picture of Scott with his longtime girlfriend Neon.  Together the duo created the WORLD DANCE NEW YORK motion picture studio, which has in less-than-a-decade grown to become the world’s largest producer of dance instruction DVDs.  The business started after Neon decided to become a bellydancer and quickly became NYC’s most in-demand live performer.  Together Neon and Scott produced a cable-access TV show about bellydance, and then went on to producing direct-to-DVD instructional videos, featuring top teachers of bellydance, hip-hop, samba, exotic dance, salsa, female self-defense, yoga, pilates, abs workout, and stretching:  Nearly 100 instructional videos have been produced by the company as of this writing, and they are offered in many languages and sold worldwide.  “We’ve heard that they are always available in supermarkets in Dubai!!” says Scott.

Scott also reports that Big 13 alum Gil Muro has swung by their studio once or twice to to offer technical guidance.  "Wotta great guy that Gil is," says Scott, "and it was really exciting to receive technical wisdom from one of the tech kingpins of NBC, Gil Muro.  Ah, those Big 13 connections!!"

To learn more about this latest chapter of Scott’s journey, visit http://worlddancenewyork.com - or Scott’s Facebook page (“Scott Shuster” at Facebook.com), or drop him a line at scott@scottshuster.com (http://scottshuster.com is Scott’s conference business website.).  The DVDs are all available at amazon.com - just look up “World Dance New York” to see the full line.

September 2009: The latest personal news about Scott and Neon is that they have decided to switch from being lovers to being (as Neon puts it) “family, with a family business.”  Scott describes their break-up as ‘completely amicable and without any rancor whatsoever.’ “We still live next door to each other, still work together every day - and I feel certain we will always love each other.  Our business together rolls on just the same as before.  We have merely decided to seek new personal partners.”  And Scott adds: “I did not expect this but I’m finding it very, very exciting to be ‘looking’ again...”

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