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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Welcome to the June edition! Axios Pro Deals research associate Natalie Breymeyer here with your monthly recap of who's working where now.

Did you or a friend recently change jobs? Tell us! Get wind of layoffs somewhere? Tell us! How do you tell us? Hit reply or fill out this form.

You can skim below to find New hires; Elections and appointments; Promotions; and Departures.

📥 Your opinion matters to us. Please share your thoughts by replying to this email!

Katherine Tercek joined QED Investors as head of investor relations.

Why it matters: QED Investors, based in Alexandria, Virginia, has invested in more than 225 companies, including 29 unicorns. It currently has $4 billion in assets under management.

Context: Tercek, formerly a senior associate on the investor relations team at Bessemer Venture Partners, will focus on the 17-year-old firm's fundraising strategy. She will manage the relationships of QED's LP base, along with cultivating new relationships.

Zoom in: Tercek succeeds Courtney Christianson and reports to CFO Jamie Loving. Prior to Bessemer Venture Partners, Tercek worked at Palladium Equity Partners and Wells Fargo Securities.

📈 Trend spot: Tercek is seeing folks across asset classes looking to build relationships in the Middle East.

"We're a specialist firm that has scale, and QED has a real track record of executing on geoarbitrage," Tercek said. "If there's a sector where we've had success in an investment, we're able to take those learnings and see if a similar company can grow or exist in a different geography."

The Gulf Cooperation Council countries specifically have worked to diversify their economies and reduce their reliance on oil revenues, according to PwC. VC investments in the GCC have grown at a compound annual rate of 24% over the past five years.

"It's not just a copy-paste strategy; there's a lot of thought and expertise that goes into executing strategy in a different country."

🗣️ What she's saying: Tercek said she tries to always take a bespoke approach with each LP.

"Every part of this business is about relationships," Tercek said. "So much of investor relations is creating enduring relationships that are going to last multiple vintages and hopefully different products."

Tercek's favorite part of her job is the end result. "You're managing someone's money and you're responsible for investing their capital," she said. "Helping them accomplish their goals and seeing the power of what we do every day is really powerful."

🍽️ Content plate: "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion. Recalling her California roots, Tercek said no one writes prose like Didion.

💭 Best advice: "Be kind. Life is long, and you don't know when people from your past are going to come back."

Tercek also incorporates yoga and meditation into her daily life after growing up practicing with her parents.

Katherine Tercek joins QED Investors

Photo illustration of Katherine Tercek next to multiple stock performance charts.

Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: QED Investors

Diana Pessin was named CMO for BritBox International. axios.link/3KtgJIH

Anna Murphy joined Ridley Scott Associates as its first creative director for unscripted. axios.link/4bK4weM

Sarah Harms and Sal Candela are joining Roku as VP of advertising marketing and VP of global agency partnerships. axios.link/3RAvuh1

Sébastien Rossi was named creative director for french studio Gaumont's kids and family division. axios.link/3KxpZvh

Christopher Bower was named executive director, Shine Away and special projects at Hello Sunshine. He previously was head of global brand and social for Cirque du Soleil. axios.link/4caQ3bw

Lawrence Inglee joined SpectreVision, the production company founded by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah, as partner and president of production. axios.link/3XeYG0w

Alyse Rosenberg joined Elf Labs, a "transmedia" content studio, as SVP of content. axios.link/3Xn9OIU

Greg Archibald, formerly of Criteo, Yahoo and InMobi, was named general manager and SVP of sales for the U.S. for Outbrain. axios.link/3VCXgeS

Marcy Pritchard, a Nickelodeon veteran, was named VP of production at animation studio Titmouse. axios.link/3VohSGx

Jenn Levy, former Netflix reality exec, joined production company 32 Flavors. axios.link/4bOA9nr

Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary for Barack Obama, was named comms chief for Warner Bros. Discovery. axios.link/3XuvgM6

Venu Sports, the streaming joint venture between Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, unveiled its executive team: Tim Connolly will serve as chief business officer, Skarpi Hedinsson as CTO and Brian Borkowski as CMO. axios.link/45wDViW

Gaurav Banerjee, former Disney+ Hotstar content chief, was named managing director and CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India. axios.link/3xxtUWk

Larissa Knapp, a former FBI official, joined the Motion Picture Association as EVP and chief content protection officer. axios.link/3xGQSKt

Tom Fochetta joined Dish Network as SVP of Dish Media, its ad sales division. axios.link/3VVEuzF

Lloyd Bucher was named VP and general manager of WPHL Philadelphia, a Nexstar Media Group-owned CW affiliate. axios.link/3zeGVoe

Anaïs Lempereur, CFO of Pluto TV, left for the same role at Hallmark Media. axios.link/3RLNlBp

Public relations and entertainment agency hires

Steve Cox, an Amazon veteran, was named CEO of in-screen advertising company Ryff as founder Roy Taylor transitions to CPO. Shirley Richter Hughes, formerly of R&CPMK and BEN Labs, was named corporate VP of sales and customer experience. axios.link/4aZoWiJ

Bob Roback, former CEO of Ingrooves Music Group, was named COO for UTA. axios.link/4aYI68j

Jay Stevens joined Permutive as chief commercial officer. He was previously GM, international for MNTN. axios.link/3Xnp6xg

Michael Steib, CEO of Artsy, succeeded David Lougee as president and CEO of Tegna in August. axios.link/4c8AsJV

Linda Boff, longtime CMO of General Electric who left in April, was named CEO at marketing agency Said Differently. axios.link/4b7nhaK

Frances Manfredi joined TV studio Future Shack Entertainment as partner and head of distribution and content strategy. axios.link/3VqiHyF

Hugh Dougherty, former deputy editor at NY Post, was named executive editor of The Daily Beast. As part of the move, Tracy Connor left as Daily Beast EIC. axios.link/4ebrFbJ

Selena Kalvaria, former Gucci exec, joined Fanatics as CMO of its sports betting unit. axios.link/4aJ1GFu

Shane Smith, Vice co-founder, returned to the company as editor-in-chief of Vice News. axios.link/4bNZWMD

Portia Archer, former NBA G League COO, joined the WTA as CEO to replace Steve Simon, who will remain in his role as WTA chairman. axios.link/3VuSIaD

Sarah Friar, former Nextdoor CEO, was hired as CFO and Kevin Weil, formerly of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as CPO of OpenAI. axios.link/3VmPJj0

Samantha Melbourneweaver, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, was named managing editor, digital audience growth and engagement for NPR. axios.link/45eAJZj

Mehdi Lebouachera will become global EIC at AFP in November after the U.S. election. He is currently AFP's chief editor for the Asia-Pacific region. Sophie Huet, global EIC since 2019, will lead AFP's AI strategy. axios.link/3XfX5ri

Kimberly Carver, previously with Anonymous Content, joined Avalon. axios.link/4ch5j6Y

Akhil Bhansali, formerly CFO of Veyl Ventures, was hired as CFO and Ashley Meade was promoted to CRO at Refinery29, now owned by Sundial Media Group. axios.link/3xDbDXr

Kamilah Thomas, previously SVP of people at Roku, joined Avaya as SVP and chief people officer. avaya.com/en/

Nicole Silver, previously SVP of marketing at Volta Charging, was named CMO of advertising and trade at Dotdash Meredith. dotdashmeredith.com/

Roger Kopfmann was named CFO, Andy Shorkey was named CRO and Diego Lomanto was named CMO at Writer. axios.link/3xzTABt

Chandar Pattabhiram joined Workato as chief go-to-market officer. Bhagat Nainani also joined as head of product and engineering. axios.link/3zkmk1G

At Vision360 Partners, Jen Farber and Allison Haley joined as partners at the firm. Natalie Pavlatos and Caitlin Gullickson were promoted to SVP, and Tim Hogan was also promoted to SVP for digital services. Ian Eli Lee, Roderick Patton and Rhina Portillo were named managing directors. vision360partners.com/

Uri Berliner, the former NPR editor who left after he accused the outlet of having a liberal bias, joined Bari Weiss' The Free Press. axios.link/3L0cXqv

Nicole Ridgway was named EIC of The 74, a nonprofit education news site. axios.link/3XzWEZ3

Tim Tebow, former college football star, joined as a partner at GOVO Venture Partners, a VC firm based in Winter Park, Florida. axios.link/3RKWIRZ

💼 New hires

Steven Schiffman, former Nat Geo Channels boss, was named executive chairman of EarthxTV, a sustainability and conservation-focused network. axios.link/3XbwifJ

Ed Policy was named chairman and CEO of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. He will take over July 2025. axios.link/3VyYCGx

John Anderson, who ended his 25-year run on ESPN's "SportsCenter" last night, joined the University of Missouri's School of Journalism as an endowed chair in radio and television journalism. axios.link/45BJHjn

🗳️ Elections and appointments

Deva Bronson was promoted to EVP, head of media responsibility at dentsu. axios.link/3RiCoY4

Jennifer Koester was promoted to president and COO for Sphere Entertainment. axios.link/3L0YXgp

Alexandra Sukin was promoted to VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. axios.link/3KT0Awd

Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich were promoted to senior White House correspondents for Fox News. axios.link/4cfDpbk

📢 Promotions

Sally Buzbee departed as executive editor of The Washington Post, with former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray replacing her on a temporary basis. axios.link/459IW0x

Jennifer Turner and Nicole Norwood, the top two executives at Sony's TriStar Television, left the company after Sony decided to close the studio. axios.link/3X7CUvI

Eric Bolling left Newsmax after three years. axios.link/3yRSFws

Joe Benarroch left X as its head of business operations. Benarroch was a longtime key adviser for X CEO Linda Yaccarino. axios.link/3yPmyxF

Chris Taylor resigned as president and CEO of MNRK Music Group, a New York independent music label and management firm. axios.link/4c8tIvl

David Nevins stepped down as CEO of North Road Co., Peter Chernin's media venture backed by Providence Equity. axios.link/3KDuQLJ

Marnie Black, longtime PR chief for AMC Network, departed after 13 years, Variety reports. axios.link/4c1Mk09

Stacia Deshishku, an executive editor and SVP of ABC News, departed the network. axios.link/3RDmpUv

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, parent of Redbox and streaming services like Crackle and Popcornflix, removed its entire board of directors except for CEO Bill Rouhana. axios.link/3KRdQ4J

🛫 Departures and layoffs

Yahoo Sports hired Olympians Allyson Felix, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Shawn Johnson East, Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff to be correspondents for the Paris Olympics. axios.link/3VbA9qk

James Dolan, CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports, had his contract extended through 2027. axios.link/3XuvGlD

Rob Winnett will no longer join The Washington Post as editor and instead stay at the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph. axios.link/4ezlmPm

Bill Kramer renewed his contract as CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences through July 2028. axios.link/3VL0oEG

Sarah Hirshland extended her contract as CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee for an additional five years. axios.link/3KXKzFA

🔔 Announcements

There you have it. Make sure to continue sending us your personnel-related news throughout the month.

🌞 Natalie ended June visiting family and enjoying the warm, dry weather on Washington state's east side — just in time for cherry season.

✏️ Special thanks to George Moriarty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter!

July 06, 2024

1 big thing: Katherine Tercek joins QED Investors