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Sarah Personette, formerly of Twitter and Meta, was named CEO of Puck, the subscriber-focused media startup covering power brokers. https://axios.link/3vlcn1T

Kazuhito Hadano was named CEO of Sony Ventures as Gen Tsuchikawa transitions to a chairman role. https://axios.link/48JpYOV

David Amrani was named CEO of Digiday Media as Nick Friese becomes chairman. https://axios.link/3NYyh1I

Sharb Farjami was named CEO of GroupM's North American operations. https://axios.link/48LIxmi

Kim Niederman was named CEO of virtual event technology company GlobalMeet. https://axios.link/492EZvu

Katherine Maher was named CEO of NPR. She had been serving as CEO of Web Summit and previously was CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation. https://axios.link/47M5Mv1

Walker Jacobs was hired as DAZN's global CFO and president of its U.S. business. https://axios.link/47tv5lB

Ellen Gormley, formerly leading the financial team at DeFi network Radix, joined Sky Mavis as CFO. https://axios.link/3S6tMD8

Tom Sansone was named CFO and COO of SoundCloud. He was previously CFO of Kobalt Music Group. https://axios.link/41P0Mo9

Jacob Moncrief of Westbrook Media rejoined Mythical Entertainment, Rhett & Link's digital media company, as COO. Brian Flanagan was promoted to president. https://axios.link/3S788ij

Anne Globe, previously CMO of Skydance Media and DreamWorks Animation, was named CMO at Imax as Denny Tu, who served as CMO since 2019, leaves. https://axios.link/3tSwUux

Mark Francis, a veteran TV and streaming executive in Asia, joined Indonesia's Vidio as its chief content officer and strategy officer. https://axios.link/3vf9jVg

Peter Gaida, former GM of Deluxe Media and CEO of Qantam Media, was named chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific for Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for movies. https://axios.link/3H1b3Ut

Sue Bird, the WNBA legend, joined Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment as chief strategy officer and partner. https://axios.link/3TNK6eJ

Damien Islam-Frenoy was named CTO of Teads. He spent the past six years at Amazon. https://axios.link/47KkHFV

Jennifer Frees was named chief business and marketing officer of Toronto Film Festival. https://axios.link/3TXnvMT

Carole Robinson, formerly of BuzzFeed and ViacomCBS, was named chief communications officer of Nielsen. https://axios.link/3tRyiO1

Brodie Fenlon was named general manager and EIC for Canada's CBC News. https://axios.link/48lNUbE

Dan Hirschhorn, previously of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Philadelphia Inquirer, was named EIC of Quartz. https://axios.link/47gupzT

Sonia Fernandes was named global chief human resources and diversity officer of Politico. She has worked at WPP, KPMG, Bain & Co. and elsewhere. https://axios.link/3Ou2dmn

Carly Hoogendyk, former editor of the Cramer Comedy Newsletter, joined Omnipop Talent Group West as manager. https://axios.link/3RMPRH3

Melanie Zimmermann, a 10-year veteran of Macy's, joined Criteo as general manager, global retail media. Stephen Howard-Sarin, formerly of Instacart, was named managing director of retail media in the Americas. https://axios.link/48EtEBH

Alison Harding-Jones, former investment banker at Citigroup, joined Deutsche Bank as global head of M&A. https://axios.link/48lEbSy

Shirley Li was named general counsel at AI company Cerebras Systems. https://axios.link/3TMaZ2I

Gordon Kroft, formerly of Citigroup, joined Crestview Partners as a partner in the firm's New York office. https://axios.link/3vxfMuU

Jo Kinsella, formerly of Innovid and TVSquared, was named president of XR, the video ad server formerly known as Extreme Reach. https://axios.link/3TUYkKY

Tim Mulligan, formerly head of sales at XSET, joined esports organization Cloud9 as VP, head of sales. https://axios.link/3S60FBp

Jeremy Helfand will move from Disney to Amazon, where he will serve as VP and head of advertising for Prime Video. https://axios.link/3RKNc0k

Jethro Nededog, a longtime entertainment journalist, joined PR shop Lippin Group as a VP on the corporate communications team. https://axios.link/48gzDNc

Adam Telian and Sarah Spitz joined GYK Antler as head of media and head of production, respectively. https://axios.link/4aHlHxq

Dylan Massin was named EVP of production and Adam Moos was promoted to SVP, head of production operations at Sony Pictures Television Studios. https://axios.link/3S7e5Ne

Jon Wax was named EVP of international original television for Disney. Wax is moving over from Amazon Studios, where he led genre development. https://axios.link/3SbjGSJ

Arthur Bochner, formerly of Disney, was named chief communications officer and EVP at News Corp. https://axios.link/3tH2Kuf

Alex MacCallum rejoined CNN as EVP of digital products and services. https://axios.link/4b21ZfM

Toby Byrne was named EVP of national ad sales at A+E Networks. He spent the past six years as president of Zefr and 20 years at Fox. https://axios.link/4b1vyyk

Dan Fisher, a former Entertainment One executive, was named EVP of VMI Releasing, the North American distribution arm of VMI Worldwide. https://axios.link/48YdT92

Patrick McFadden was hired as SVP for global public policy and communications at Sinclair. He worked the past 10 years at the National Association of Broadcasters. https://axios.link/3RPHwlQ

Matt Andrée Wiltens was named SVP and head of global corporate communications for Hollywood agency Gersh. https://axios.link/3RIrkTr

Tory Maguire was named managing director of Nine's publishing division, which includes The Sydney Morning Herald. https://axios.link/47C362X

Jim Spadafore joined Scripps Sports as senior director of revenue. https://axios.link/3vycirN

Paul Royall was named the permanent executive news editor for the BBC News Channel. https://axios.link/48VZvhh

James Liddy of Deutsche Bank was hired as head of gaming, leisure and lodging investment banking for EMEA at Jefferies, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/4aZwinu

Kelly Martin Walsh joined Shadow Lion, a studio co-founded by Tom Brady, as head of talent relations and unscripted content. https://axios.link/48ZkOP5

Zac Frognowski, previously a partner at Grandview, joined Brillstein Entertainment Partners. https://axios.link/3tUUqa7

Lee Fitting, an ESPN alum, was named head of media and production for WWE. https://axios.link/48uCQJk

Julian Jacobs was named the new head of UTA's New York City office. Allan Haldeman, partner and co-head of TV Lit, will return to Los Angeles. https://axios.link/3TMPkYa

Rosy Baker joined the talent team of Kovert Creative. https://axios.link/3vwIQSU

Leigh Farris joined BlackRock as head of global communications, Axios Communicators' Eleanor Hawkins scooped. https://axios.link/48JxsBt

Josie Juneau was appointed head of advertising at Ridley Scott Associates to oversee the U.K. roster of directors. https://axios.link/47GmrQw

Tina Tozzi, formerly of Westbrook, was named head of development at Togethxr. https://axios.link/3Od69rq

Archie Donato was named managing director of animation at U.K.-based VFX and animation company Jellyfish Pictures. https://axios.link/3vGW3bY

Nadia Romdhani joined Deadline as sales director, international. https://axios.link/49ohe1l

Tiffany Luck joined NEA as a New York-based partner focused on tech deals. She previously was a partner with GGV Capital. https://axios.link/3tRkt20

James Brown joined Picturehouse Entertainment to head acquisitions strategy. https://axios.link/3tFC25b

Josh Lieberman of 3 Arts and Allie Veneris of Authentic Talent & Literary Management joined Brillstein Entertainment Partners. https://axios.link/42aoyv7

Alyssa Chulak, formerly of WME, joined Cognition as a manager. https://axios.link/4aPsRjf

Bhanu Prakash, most recently head of creative operations at Technicolor Games, joined the animation and gaming studio Saffronic as creative head of games. https://axios.link/48LPTWQ

Brad Stone was named editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. He was most recently the senior executive editor of Bloomberg News' global technology team. https://axios.link/4b6LvmJ

Madeline Renbarger joined Newcomer, an independent newsletter covering startups and venture capital, as its first reporter outside founder Eric Newcomer, Sara Fischer wrote. https://axios.link/3tGuX46

Hector Becerra was named managing editor for the Los Angeles Times. https://axios.link/4bkD1IM

💼 New hires

Illustration of various hands holding microphones surrorunding a briefcase

Janice Arouh, Mark DeVitre, Eric Gould, Sydnie Karras, Chris Malone and Andy Temple joined the board of Allen Media Group. https://axios.link/3vis0r4

Patrick Dolan, co-founder and COO of FxM, was appointed to Collective Audience's Advisor Collective. https://axios.link/3voOu9X

Ollie Madden was named chairman of "Poor Things" producer Film4 as Daniel Battsek steps down after eight years. https://axios.link/3SaE1HP

Joyce Pierpoline was named chair of BAFTA North America's board of directors. https://axios.link/3U0g7jA

Neville Ray, a telco veteran, was appointed to the board of directors of Ziff Davis. https://axios.link/48tHRBH

Jay Hunt, the creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe, was named chair of the British Film Institute. https://axios.link/3SebIZo

Adam Fogelson will succeed Joe Drake as chairman of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group. https://axios.link/3NZKoeF

Andrea Zappia, Sky Italia founder, was named chairman of Africa's biggest streaming service MultiChoice Group's Showmax. https://axios.link/3ShDe8e

Chris Russell was appointed to director of global basketball sales at the sports marketing agency Sportfive. https://axios.link/48QXPpg

Bob Chapek, former Disney CEO, was appointed to the board of Masimo Corp. https://axios.link/3S05kUe

Pharrell Williams was appointed to an adviser role at Human Made. https://axios.link/47FoBQD

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was appointed to the board of directors of TKO. https://axios.link/3vIeJYR

Kate Brandt, John Delaney, Evan Greenberg and Sandesh Kadur were appointed to the National Geographic Society's board of trustees. https://axios.link/492ecQ0

🗳️ Elections and appointments

Kris Qiu, co-founder of IQM, a New York-based data and media buying platform, was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO. https://axios.link/4aHDaWj

Joe Gallo was promoted to general manager of Columbia Records after serving as EVP, head of sales. https://axios.link/3NY8h6z

Grant Norris-Jones, a key UFC executive, was promoted to EVP and head of global partnerships for TKO Group, which is combining WWE's and UFC's global partnerships team into one unit. https://axios.link/3RKlHE8

David Meese, a scripted TV agent at WME, was promoted to partner. https://axios.link/3tYOP2H

Will Maxfield, an agent at WME's Independent group, was promoted to partner. https://axios.link/48H2MBA

Carol Turner was promoted to head of production for Disney Entertainment Television. https://axios.link/3u4DXjG

Jeff Collins was promoted to head of ad sales at Fox Corp. as Marianne Gambelli departs. https://axios.link/4b7Cp9f

Carolina Leconte was promoted to senior director of content at Netflix Latin America. https://axios.link/3UszMt5

Stephen Dost was promoted to VP, content of Arrow Media. https://axios.link/427zauA

Ben Eckholm was promoted to senior associate at Braemont Capital. https://axios.link/48RI0Pv

Ken Caplan and Lionel Assant were promoted from Blackstone global co-heads of real estate and European PE, respectively, to global co-chief investment officers. https://www.blackstone.com/

Promotions at Sapphire Ventures: Rob Severo was named partner and chief compliance officer. Krupa Vankayala was named partner, people and HR. Kevin Burke was named partner, strategy. Jenny Bavinger was named VP, marketing, ventures and portfolio growth. Jason Morris was named VP, investor relations. Shinta Yulia was named VP, finance, Sapphire partners. Imogen Mulliner was named VP, ventures. Derek Asbun was named senior director, business development. Brett Ripperger was named director, investor reporting and business analytics. Georgie Davies was named senior associate, ventures. https://sapphireventures.com/ 

📢 Promotions

Marcela Martin stepped down as president of BuzzFeed. https://axios.link/47eVNOJ

Athan Stephanopoulos stepped down as EVP and chief digital officer of CNN. https://axios.link/41Igwck

Richard Beckman stepped down as president of The Messenger, citing "short term health issues." https://axios.link/3H2v8Kc

Marie Donoghue left Amazon as VP of global sports video. https://axios.link/4aNfvnM

Nathaniel Brown, chief communications officer at Warner Bros. Discovery, left. https://axios.link/3H80JtY

Michael Cohen stepped down as CEO of Team Whistle. https://axios.link/3RUlv5q

Kevin Merida left the Los Angeles Times, about 2½ years after being named executive editor of the newspaper. https://axios.link/41VZJ5J

Carrie Stimmel left X as head of global agencies about four months after joining. https://axios.link/48NQNlb

Leah Weil stepped down as general counsel for Sony Pictures Entertainment, ending a 28-year run with the studio. She will move to an advisory role. https://axios.link/48IZ0XR

William Astor, co-founder of kids TV juggernaut Silvergate Media, stepped down as the company's chair. https://axios.link/3Sf3EHP

Jack Sussman, EVP, specials, music, live events and alternative programming of CBS Entertainment, stepped down but will remain in business with the network as an executive producer of The Tony Awards and The Kennedy Center Honors. https://axios.link/3HfLZt0

Alison Phillips stepped down as EIC of Mirror. Caroline Waterston, EIC for Reach magazines, will serve in the interim. https://axios.link/3U4n6bo

February 03, 2024

💼 New hires