vice president: Last News

BET said Friday that Simone Oliver has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Digital Content, and Jason Odom has joined Senior Vice President of Digital Operations. Both will report to Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Kimberly Paige and will help grow the network’s digital imprint.

EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker David E. Talbert and his wife and producing partner Lyn Sisson-Talbert have appointed veteran entertainment exec Jim Miller as Head of Film at their production company Golden Alchemy Entertainment, at the same time bringing on Tessie Goodrich as Vice President of Development. 

EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker David E. Talbert and his wife and producing partner Lyn Sisson-Talbert have appointed veteran entertainment exec Jim Miller as Head of Film at their production company Golden Alchemy Entertainment, at the same time bringing on Tessie Goodrich as Vice President of Development. 

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Boat Rocker has hired veteran executive Dan Selig as its new senior vice president of content sales, Variety has learned. Selig joins Boat Rocker from Fifth Season (formerly known as Endeavor Content), where he was most recently the senior vice president of sales for the Americas. In his new role, Selig will be a major part of Boat Rocker’s sales strategy as well as distribution of content throughout the U.S. and Latin America. Selig will be based in the independent studio’s New York office and report to Jon Rutherford, the president of rights for Boat Rocker. “As Boat Rocker continues its growth as a leading supplier of premium global content, we’re excited to have Dan join the team,” said Rutherford. “With a deep understanding of the television landscape, Dan brings a wealth of experience and will be an invaluable asset to lead U.S. and Latin America sales for Boat Rocker’s owned and acquired series and documentaries.”

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Factory has elevated longtime senior executive Jordan Fields to Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Originals. In his new role at the multi-platform media company, where he most recently served as Vice President of Acquisitions, Fields will report to Shout! CEO Garson Foos.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC Entertainment has hired Felicia Joseph to serve as senior vice president of casting, Variety has learned. Joseph joins ABC from MRC, where she most recently served as the independent studio’s senior vice president of casting. In her new role, she will report to Sharon Klein, the executive vice president of casting for Walt Disney Television. She will oversee casting for all ABC pilots and series as well as unscripted casting for Hulu and other WDTV brands. The role marks a homecoming for Joseph, who began her career in the casting department at ABC. “I’ve had the good fortune of collaborating with Felicia in the past and know how well she cultivates relationships with talent who are at the top of their craft,” Klein said. “Her passion, instinct and deep understanding of our business make her ideal for this role and, quite frankly, the only person I wanted for the job. We’re overjoyed to be welcoming her back to ABC, where she started her career.”

Fox News' Judge Jeanine Pirro ripped Vice President Kamala Harris's comments on the border crisis during an appearance on "Late Night With Seth Meyers," saying "everybody knows" she and President Biden are a "disaster" Tuesday on "The Five."  Look, I don’t know how the woman gets out of bed and faces the world. She’s a catastrophe. She should have showed up on the number one comedy show.

EXCLUSIVE: Television executive and producer Erynn Baldwin, most recently founder and CEO of the storytelling app Lugu, has joined Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Television as Vice President. In her new role, Baldwin will be responsible for bringing in new projects and developing series across comedy and drama.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Orlando Wharton has been named executive vice president of Capitol Music Group and president of Priority Records. The announcement was made by CMG chair & CEO Michelle Jubelirer, to whom Wharton will report.  According to the announcement, in his new position, Wharton will sign and guide artists across CMG’s portfolio of labels, and will relaunch the legendary Priority Records label as a dedicated home for new, developing and established hip hop artists.  Wharton will assume his positions at CMG early next year, and will be based at the company’s offices in New York. The announcement closely follows the company’s hiring of Doja Cat co-manager Gordan Dillard as EVP of A&R and artist development.

Selome Hailu Albert Cheng has been promoted to vice president of Amazon Prime Video U.S. He most recently served as chief operating officer of Amazon Studios. The news came Wednesday in a staff memo written by Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Cheng enters the newly created position effective immediately and will report to Hopkins. 2022 has been a banner year for Amazon’s studio and streaming service, especially with the launch of “The Rings of Power,” the latest entry into the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. According to Hopkins, responsibilities under Cheng’s purview will include revenue growth, brand strategy, marketing operations and customer acquisition.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Chika Chukudebelu Igwilo has joined FX as senior vice president of development Chukudebelu Igwilo joins FX from HBO Max, where she most recently served as vice president of original programming, drama. In her new role, she will report to Gina Balian and Nick Grad, co-presidents of original programming at FX. “Chika is an extraordinarily talented creative executive with a proven track record of discovering and nurturing talent and guiding projects to success in an incredibly competitive environment,” said Grad and Balian. “We are honored to add such a gifted creative executive to our development team, building on the strength of the team to continue FX’s tradition of fearless storytelling.”

Selome Hailu Zoe Rogovin has been promoted to senior vice president of programming at Showtime. Rogovin enters the position after most recently serving as vice president of non-fiction programming. Since joining the company in 2019, she has overseen development and production of the network’s non-fiction projects across episodic, serialized and film formats. Showtime titles under Rogovin’s purview have included the recent limited series “We Need to Talk About Cosby” from W. Kamau Bell, “UFO” from Bad Robot, “Supreme Team” from Nas and “Supervillain,” about Tekashi 6ix9ine. She has also worked on returning series such as “Couples Therapy” with Dr. Orna Guralnik, comedy sketch series “Ziwe” with Ziwe Fumudoh and news program “Vice,” as well as the Sheryl Crow documentary “Sheryl.”

BreAnna Bell eOne has selected Kris Henigman as its new senior vice president of scripted television, where he will focus on the development and packaging of television projects, Variety has learned exclusively.“I am very excited to join the amazing team at eOne. In addition to eOne’s fantastic original series slate, Hasbro has a deep well of beloved IP that I have been a massive fan of since childhood.

Michaela Zee editorSony Pictures Television’s House of NonFiction has appointed seasoned development executive and producer Andie Beckerman as executive vice president of development, Variety has learned exclusively.In her new role at the company, Beckerman will oversee various stories across music, pop culture, sports and social justice that primarily focus on underrepresented or overlooked communities.“Andie’s deep well of experience and sincere appreciation for our mission-driven content make her an excellent fit for this role,” said House of NonFiction founder Alex Stapleton. “As we continue to expand our slate, her perfect background and commendable ability to shepherd projects along every step of the development process will prove invaluable, and we can’t wait to see her impact on our already burgeoning lineup.” Prior to joining House of NonFiction, Beckerman worked for Herzog & Co.

Carson Burton Mackenzie Mitchell has been promoted to vice president of specials, music and live events for CBS Entertainment, Jack Sussman — executive vice president of specials, music, live events and alternative programming — announced Friday.In her new role, Mitchell will oversee a significant portion of the specials programming production and development for CBS Entertainment’s lineup. The executive started at the network eight years ago as a temporary assistant in the specials and live events programming department.“Mackenzie literally started as a temp at CBS, answering phones and scheduling meetings, but her passion, intellect, creative instincts and keen eye for material has helped her to become one of the finest event programming executives working in television today,” Sussman said.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBeverly Chase has been promoted to vice president of current programming and development for Vice News and Vice World News, Variety has learned exclusively.Chase was previously the executive producer of long form for Vice News. In her new role, Chase will continue to serve as as executive producer and showrunner of “Vice” on Showtime.

K.J. Yossman Sky Studios has appointed Tobias Rosen as vice president of Sky Studios Deutschland.

Carson Burton Sandra Smester has been named executive vice president of programming and content development at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.In the newly created role, Smester will oversee the development and execution of programming for the network. She will also be responsible for content acquisitions, program planning and scheduling, as well as the company’s cable network Universo.

Carson Burton Elita Fielder Adjei has been named vice president of corporate communications for National Geographic Content. The newly-created role will find Adjei responsible for the overall communications strategy of the company in order to raise its profile and build upon its reputation in the industry.Adjei, who previously worked as director of communications and publicity at Disney Media Entertainment and Distribution, will be responsible for leading internal and external communications for National Geographic Content.Adjei will report to Courteney Monroe, president of National Geographic Content, and Charissa Gilmore, senior vice president of corporate communications for Disney General Entertainment.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterCorie Henson has been hired by NBCUniversal Television & Streaming as the executive vice president of entertainment unscripted content.Henson takes over the role from Jenny Groom, who exited the company earlier this week. She will report to Susan Rovner, the entertainment content chairman for NBCU TV & Streaming.“Corie is one of the most respected executives in the business and brings a resume overflowing with big unscripted hits that have broken out across broadcast, streaming and cable platforms,” Rovner said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterContent Partners has hired Vine Alternative Investments executive Rob Amir as senior vice president at the media company, Variety has learned exclusively.In his new role, Amir will oversee “augmenting” the content business’ “sourcing of new film, television, music and other entertainment intellectual property assets,” per the company, which is the owner of films including “13 Going on 30,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Black Swan,” “Hugo” and “xXx,” as well as Revolution Studios, and the co-owner of the “CSI” franchise.Amir will be based in Content Partners’ Los Angeles headquarters and start his position immediately.“We are extremely excited to welcome Rob to the Content Partners family,” said Steve Kram, co-founder and CEO of Content Partners. “Between his many years of demonstrated entertainment dealmaking expertise and proven track record structuring sound investments, he brings an incredible background that I’m confident will have an immediate impact on the company.