S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of executive changes in the U.S. technology, media and telecommunications industries.
TOP STORIES
* Facebook Inc. named Adam Mosseri, vice president of product, to head of Instagram Inc., co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger said in an Oct. 1 blog post. Mosseri will oversee all functions of the business and will recruit a new executive team, including heads of engineering, product and operations.
* Lachlan Murdoch, the future chairman and CEO of FOX, the company to be spun off in connection with the merger with Walt Disney Co., unveiled new leadership across the company's sports, distribution, ad sales operations and corporate functions. Eric Shanks, currently president, COO and executive producer at FOX Sports, will serve as CEO of FOX Sports. Mike Biard, president of distribution for Fox Networks Group, was promoted to president of operations and distribution for FOX. Also, the company promoted Paul Cheesbrough to chief technology officer and head of direct-to-consumer platforms for FOX. Cheesbrough is currently tech chief at 21st Century Fox Inc. Marianne Gambelli, who has been elevated to president of ad sales for FOX, is currently president of ad sales for FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network; Steve Tomsic, who has been promoted to FOX's CFO, is currently 21st Century Fox's executive vice president of finance and deputy CFO. The appointments are effective upon the close of Fox's Disney transaction and the creation of the new FOX. Further, John Nallen will serve the new entity as COO, Suzanne Scott will continue to be CEO of FOX News and FOX Business Network, and Jack Abernethy will remain CEO of Fox Television Stations. In addition, Viet Dinh was recently named the chief legal and policy officer of FOX. Fox's executive vice president of finance and deputy CFO, Steve Tomsic, will serve FOX as CFO.
* Viacom Inc. on Oct. 1 appointed Brian Robbins president of Nickelodeon (US). Robbins, who will report directly to Viacom President and CEO Bob Bakish, will manage Nickelodeon's creative and business operations. Robbins was most recently president of Paramount Pictures Corp.'s Paramount Players division. He will "remain integrally involved in the development, production and marketing of all Nickelodeon co-branded films with Paramount Players, including 'Dora the Explorer,' 'Rugrats' and other current projects," the company said. Wyck Godfrey, president of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group, will manage day-to-day operations at Paramount Players while the company searches for Robbins' successor. Robbins will support Godfrey during a transition period.
Media and technology industry moves
* TEGNA Inc.'s board will eliminate the position of executive vice president/chief legal and administrative officer in early 2019. The position, currently held by Todd Mayman, is being eliminated in connection with an internal corporate reorganization, according to an Oct. 2 SEC filing.
* Television and podcast personality Steven Rinella launched a new outdoor lifestyle media and commerce company MeatEater Inc., with an investment from Chernin Group LLC. Kevin Sloan, former president at technical hunting apparel company Sitka Gear, will lead MeatEater as CEO. Rinella will serve as chief creative officer, directing content strategy for the company, while continuing to host the weekly MeatEater Podcast and TV productions. He will also be a featured editorial contributor on the MeatEater website.
* Ron Schwartz inked a new long-term agreement as president of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s Lions Gate Worldwide Home Entertainment unit. In this role, Schwartz will oversee the company's worldwide home entertainment operations, including the domestic and international home entertainment sales of Lions Gate's feature film slate, according to an Oct. 2 news release. Schwartz also assumed the expanded responsibility for the company's home entertainment digital transactional business. Schwartz will continue to lead the company's multiplatform releasing and specialty acquisitions business, including titles for the company's Grindstone Entertainment Group LLC and Premiere Labels, sister company Roadside Attractions LLC and third-party partners.
* Sridhar Ramaswamy, head of Google LLC's advertising, is leaving the company to join Greylock Partners as a venture partner, Bloomberg News reported Oct. 1. The company tapped Prabhakar Raghavan, head of the Alphabet Inc. unit's business-applications unit, to lead product and engineering for the company's digital-ads business.
* State Street Corp. closed its acquisition of Charles River Systems Inc., a deal valued at about $2.6 billion at announcement. John Plansky has been named CEO of Charles River Development. Plansky has led State Street's global exchange business for the last 18 months.
* Thomas Kurian resigned as Oracle Corp.'s president of product development to pursue other opportunities. The company has reassigned Kurian's duties to other senior executives in the development unit, according to a statement.
* Gil Schwartz, CBS Corp.'s senior executive vice president and chief communications officer, is retiring, The Hollywood Reporter reported, citing a memo from the executive, sent to CBS staff.
* A. George Battle is retiring from Netflix Inc.'s board, the company said in a Sept. 25 SEC filing. Battle, whose retirement is effective Dec. 15, has been a director of Netflix since June 2005.
Communications industry moves
* Pareteum Corp. promoted Denis McCarthy as the first president of the company. McCarthy was previously senior vice president of corporate development at Pareteum. He will help the company's integration with newly acquired Artilium PLC. The company also appointed Amy Love as its chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Pareteum, Love worked at the Georgia Institute of Technology Advanced Technology Development Center.
* Comcast Spotlight Inc., the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable Communications LLC, named Brendan Condon chief revenue officer, effective Oct. 1. Previously, Condon served as president of AdMore, an audience-based programmatic television advertising platform, and REVShare, a short-form direct-response provider, at Cannella Media. Comcast Cable is a unit of Comcast Corp.
* Uniserve Communications Corp. reorganized its management team and terminated CEO Nicholas Jeffery, according to a Sept. 30 press release. The company also appointed its vice president of sales and customer services, Darren Nichols, as president.
* Rishi Dave joined Vonage Holdings Corp. as chief marketing officer. Dave previously was marketing chief at global data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet Corp.
Links are current as of publication time; we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.