S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of executive changes in the U.S. technology, media and communications industries.
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* Cyma Zarghami is stepping down as president of Nickelodeon Group after more than 30 years with the network. Zarghami, who joined Nickelodeon (US) in 1985, was named president in 2006. Sarah Levy, COO of Viacom Media Networks, will lead the brand on an interim basis while Viacom Inc. conducts a search for Nickelodeon's new president.
* Twitter Inc. is overhauling its global content partnerships group as part of plans to enable "increased efficiency around the world and better align with our global strategy and vision," Variety reported June 4, citing an internal memo by Kay Madati, Twitter's global head of content partnerships. Under the new structure, the global content partnerships team will be run by executives for five regions: the U.S.; Latin America/Canada; Europe/Middle East/Africa; Japan/South Korea; and Asia-Pacific. The regional heads will report to Madati. Also, the company folded the live video business unit into the regional structure. As part of the changes, Laura Froelich was named as new head of U.S. partnerships. Froelich previously served as global director of sports partnerships. David Grossman, formerly Twitter's global head of entertainment, will now lead U.S. entertainment. Theo Luke will serve as interim head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Christopher Doyle was named interim head of Latin America/Canada; and Jennie Sager will serve as interim head of Asia-Pacific and Japan/Korea. Peter Greenberger, former head of global news at the microblogging service, is exiting the company. In addition, Todd Swidler, whom Twitter hired to lead the live video group one year ago, is also leaving the company. The lead members of the live video team will now be part of the content partnerships group. As part of the broader restructuring, Twitter is looking to hire a head of global live program management to oversee a centralized team focused on live video operations as well as Twitter's Live Brand Studio for livestreaming branded content campaigns. Twitter plans to recruit heads for U.S. sports and news, and the company plans to hire new executives to strike live programming deals in international markets as well.
Media industry moves
* Veterans of companies in terrestrial and satellite radio and television and digital video have formed a new company to provide advertising sales representation across multiple platforms. Managing members of the new company, called Crossover Media Group Sales, are Scott Calka, a veteran of advertising sales for companies such as Comcast Corp.'s Comcast Spotlight, AT&T Inc.'s DIRECTV, 21st Century Fox Inc.'s Fox Sports and Madison Square Garden Co.; Sue Freund, who has previously served at Sirius XM Holdings Inc. and held senior management positions for radio stations owned by CBS Corp., Radio One Inc. and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc.; and Ron Hartenbaum, a veteran of advertising agencies. Crossover Media Group Sales is an extension of New York-based Crossover Media Group, which was launched by Hartenbaum and Calka in 2017 as a content creation and advertising sales consulting company.
* Remark Holdings Inc.'s board named Chairman and CEO Kai-Shing Tao interim principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. Tao has served as CEO of Remark Holdings since December 2012.
* Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said June 4 that it appointed former Sony Pictures Entertainment executive Corii Berg as general counsel of the company, effective June 11. In addition to being the company's senior legal and business affairs executive, Berg will be involved in all M&A activities, strategic investments and partnerships, as well as initiatives related to capital structure. He will serve on the executive management committee and senior decision-making team, reporting to Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer. Berg most recently served as senior executive vice president and head of worldwide business affairs for Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television Inc.
* Microsoft Corp. struck a $7.5 billion all-stock deal to acquire software development platform GitHub Inc., the companies said June 4. Microsoft Corporate Vice President Nat Friedman will head GitHub as CEO. GitHub's current CEO, Chris Wanstrath, will become a Microsoft technical fellow working on strategic software initiatives.
* Hulu LLC initiated a strategic reorganization to help the company better serve subscribers and drive growth. As part of the initiative, Hulu tapped former TiVo Corp. COO Dan Phillips as chief technology officer, effective June 4. In this role, Phillips will oversee a newly unified Technology & Product organization, spanning engineering, data center operations, network and broadcast operations center, information technology and program management, as well as product management, user experience and product development. Hulu also is combining its live TV and subscription video-on-demand content licensing, acquisition and business functions into a single group, called Content Partnerships. The company's original programming and its relationships with creators, producers and studios will continue to be managed by the Hulu Originals team, but will now operate as a dedicated business function led by Senior Vice President of Content Craig Erwich. As a result, Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Distribution Tim Connolly and Chief Content Officer Joel Stillerman are leaving the company. Hulu is conducting a search for a head of the new Content Partnerships group and is eliminating the chief content officer role. Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Campbell is expanding Hulu's marketing organization to assume responsibility for the subscriber experience from acquisition, engagement and retention to viewer experience and research across all of Hulu's on-demand and live TV plans. The group will now oversee Hulu's subscriber partnerships, including its current relationships with Spotify AB and Sprint Corp. The company also named Jaya Kolhatkar, a former global data and analytics executive for Walmart Inc., as chief data officer of the company, effective July 2.
* MDC Partners Inc. agencies Bruce Mau Design Inc., Hello Design LLC, Northstar Research Partners and Varick Media Management LLC collaborated to launch Yes and Company, a new specialist network targeting modern brand marketers. Michael Bassik, MDC Partners' managing director and president of digital, will become the network's CEO, according to a May 31 statement.
* Verizon Communications Inc.'s Oath Inc. unit hired former National Football League executive Natalie Ravitz as chief communications officer and chief storyteller. In this newly created role, Ravitz will head Oath's global communications, overseeing corporate brand marketing, internal communications, public relations, executive positioning, corporate social responsibility and public policy communications. Ravitz previously served the NFL as senior vice president of communications, the company said May 30.
* Apple Inc. has quietly opened a hardware engineering lab in Oregon, The Oregonian reported May 30, citing postings, social media profiles and an individual familiar with the tech giant's recruiting efforts. The iPhone maker reportedly has hired nearly two dozen people for its Oregon facility, poaching from Intel Corp. and other tech employers in the state.
Communications industry moves
* Pareteum Corp. extended the employment agreement of founder, executive chairman and principal executive officer Robert Turner for a period of three years. Turner will continue to serve the company until at least Nov. 18, 2021, according to a June 6 news release. Turner's prior agreement was based on a fixed term through November 2018.
* Global private equity company Permira Holdings Ltd. named Yves Padrines CEO of the new company to be formed from Cisco Systems Inc.'s Service Provider Video Software Solutions business, effective upon closing of the transaction. Padrines has been serving Cisco as vice president of global service provider for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia, according to a June 4 news release.
* Former SoftBank Group Corp. President and COO Nikesh Arora will run Palo Alto Networks Inc. as its new CEO and board chairman, effective June 6. Arora will take over from Mark McLaughlin, who is shifting to the role of vice chairman of Palo Alto Networks' board. Arora left the Japanese conglomerate in July 2016 after its CEO, Masayoshi Son, changed his mind about retiring at the age of 60. Arora was supposed to take over the CEO post after Son's retirement.
* President Donald Trump chose Geoffrey Starks to fill a vacancy on the Federal Communications Commission, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the White House. If confirmed as an FCC commissioner, Starks will serve for the remainder of a five-year term ending June 30, 2022. He is set to fill the seat occupied by Democrat Mignon Clyburn, who announced in April that she is leaving the commission. Starks served as assistant bureau chief of the commission's enforcement bureau. His nomination, which is subject to U.S. Senate confirmation, will be considered along with a new term for Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to Reuters.
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