9 Jun, 2022
Warner Bros. Pictures Group names new CEOs; Yandex CEO steps down
S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of executive and board changes in the technology, media and telecommunications industries.
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From left: Michael De Luca, Pam Abdy and Toby |
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Top News
* Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. named Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy as co-chairpersons and CEOs of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Toby Emmerich stepped down as chairman to launch a new production company at the film studio. De Luca and Abdy will join the group from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. unit MGM Studios, where they served as motion picture group chairman and president, respectively.
* Russia-headquartered internet company Yandex NV said Arkady Volozh stepped down as CEO and executive director, effective immediately, amid EU sanctions on the executive. The sanctions are related to Volozh's alleged support for Russia "materially or financially" in its war against Ukraine, according to Reuters. However, Yandex said neither the company nor its units are facing sanctions in the U.S., the EU or the U.K.
The Americas
* Alex Kipman, a technical fellow at Microsoft Corp. who led its augmented reality headset project, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting an internal email by Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of the cloud and artificial intelligence group.
* Amazon.com Inc.'s worldwide consumer CEO, David Clark, has left the company. Clark will become CEO of digital-focused freight forwarder Flexport Inc., effective Sept. 1, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an announcement.
* Meta Platforms Inc.'s Jerome Pesenti, artificial intelligence vice president, will leave the company in mid-June as part of a planned restructuring of Meta AI, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth said in a blog post. Joelle Pineau will lead Meta's cross-functional AI leadership team.
* In other Meta news, the parent entity of Facebook appointed Guy Rosen as its first chief information security officer.
* Verizon Communications Inc. unit Verizon Business promoted Sowmyanarayan Sampath to the role of executive vice president and CEO, effective July 1. Sampath will replace Tami Erwin, who will become strategic adviser to the CEO until 2022-end. Verizon Business also named Debika Bhattacharya as chief product officer and Iris Meijer as senior vice president of business marketing and revenue operations.
* Former Meta executive Matthew Saxon joined Zoom Video Communications Inc. as its chief people officer. The videoconferencing platform also named Greg Tomb as president, effective June 7.
* Fox Corp. appointed Gabrielle Brown as executive vice president and chief investor relations officer.
* Scholastic Corp.'s Margaret Williams had decided to retire as a director and will not stand for reelection at the educational publisher's annual stockholder meeting Sept. 21.
* Elise Garofalo will step down as CFO of open web recommendation platform provider Outbrain Inc., effective June 30. Jason Kiviat will succeed Garofalo in the role, beginning July 1. Garofalo will transition to the role of special adviser to the CEO and new CFO through 2022-end.
* Software-as-a-service platform provider Plume Design Inc. appointed three new independent directors. They are Magdalena Yesil, executive chair of robotic process automation company Informed.IQ; Roxanne Oulman, most recently CFO at SaaS company Medallia Inc.; and former Comcast Corp. chief technology officer Tony Werner.
Europe, Middle East and Africa
* Accenture PLC named Jack Azagury as CEO for strategy and consulting, effective June 1.
* South African telco MTN Group Ltd. named former Millicom International Cellular SA CFO Tim Pennington as a nonexecutive board member, Telecompaper reported.
* Latvian telco and ICT company BITE Group appointed Pranas Kuisys as CEO, effective June 1. The company also named former CEO Nikita Sergienko to the vice chairman role.
* Global sports streaming company DAZN Group Ltd. named Roni Maman to the newly created role of executive vice president of customer success operations.
* Dutch chipmaker ASML Holding NV plans to hire over 200 employees in 2022 to support business expansion in China, according to Yicai Global.
* Denmark-based Nuuday A/S appointed Henrik Christiansen CFO, effective Aug. 1, Digital TV Europe reported.
Asia-Pacific
* Dato' Izzaddin Idris stepped down as president and group CEO of Axiata Group Bhd. The Malaysian telecom operator tapped Hans Wijayasuria, group executive vice president and CEO of the telecommunications business, and Group CFO Vivek Sood as interim joint acting group CEOs, effective June 1.
* In more Axiata news, the company's board changed the composition of its risk and compliance committee. Independent nonexecutive director David Dean will preside over the committee as chair, with Nik Ramlah Nik Mahmood, Halim Shafie and Vivek Sood as members.
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