Chris McCarthy Sets Senior Management Team as Viacom Exits Continue
Chris McCarthy is solidifying the management ranks in his rapidly growing Entertainment & Youth Group at ViacomCBS.
Chris McCarthy is solidifying the management ranks in his rapidly growing Entertainment & Youth Group at ViacomCBS. With MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo GM Amy Doyle stepping down after a 20-year run, McCarthy has promoted several of his longtime staffers to help fill the void as Doyle will remain on board through the transition.
Nina L. Diaz, who was president of entertainment for Viacom’s Music Group (MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo), has been elevated to president of content and chief creative officer. She will take on casting responsibilities previously held by Doyle, as well as lead development and producing for portfolio. McCarthy’s Entertainment & Youth Group now consists of oversight of MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, VH1, Pop, CMT, TV Land, Logo and their respective content studios.
Additionally, Tanya Giles has expanded her role as GM of Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land to add the rest of the cable brands in McCarthy’s group. Jacqueline Parkes will expand her role as chief marketing officer and head of digital studios; and Keyes Hill-Edgar will take on a new role as COO. The moves were part of an internal memo from McCarthy that included news of nine promotions as well as the departures of two longtime Viacom staffers.
Steve Albani, who formerly ran communications at Comedy Central, Paramount and TV Land under former network execs Kent Alterman and Kevin Kay, is exiting after more than two decades — and 300-plus episodes of South Park and three Daily Show hosts. Mike Greco, executive vp content strategy and business planning, is also leaving.
Meanwhile, Josh Line — executive vp marketing and creative at Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land — is departing to move to a new corporate job within the larger ViacomCBS fold, details of which will be announced shortly.
The new corporate structure arrives as ViacomCBS continues to shuffle the decks after remerging last year. The combined company is in the midst of merging several operations, with layoffs already underway in departments such as administrative as the media giant looks to eliminate redundancies and better position itself for the future.
McCarthy’s internal memo announcing his new executive team is below.
Hey Everyone,
Building on last week’s brand leadership announcements, I’m excited to share our unified senior management team for the Entertainment & Youth Group.
Please join me in congratulating these exceptional and seasoned executives, with whom I am honored to be working alongside to harness our full collective strength and maximize our full creative potential:
- Brianna Cayo-Cotter will lead the combined Social Impact teams as Senior Vice President, where she will oversee our campaigns and initiatives across the suite of brands.
- Nina L. Diaz will take on an expanded role as President of Content and Chief Creative Officer where she will be leading creative efforts in the development and producing of all content across our portfolio as well as all casting and talent development.
- Keyes Hill-Edgar will be taking on a newly created Chief Operating Officer role, where he will oversee business planning, operations and strategy as well as serve as our lead working across ViacomCBS with our Corporate partners in BALA, Finance, Production, Strategy and Distribution.
- Liza Burnett Fefferman has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Communications, where she will lead the combined communications and press teams across our group and continue to co-lead MTV Documentary Films with Nina.
- Keri Panichi Flint will lead the Entertainment & Youth production management group. Keri will oversee all production for our content and will partner with Megan Ring on the third-party scripted studios content. Keri will continue to report through corporate production with a dotted line into Nina.
- Tanya Giles expands her General Manager role to include Head of Content Strategy and Programming, here she will lead content strategy, programming, research and insights. In addition, Tanya will oversee our group’s efforts in maximizing IP expansion globally as well as best monetize our content with our Corporate partners in Sales, Distribution and Pluto.
- Jacqueline Parkes broadens her role as Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Digital Studios where she will lead all brand strategy, marketing creative, media buying and asset development for our marketing group, as well as oversee all digital efforts in partnership with VDS, including social media & digital original content. Jacqueline will also now oversee all consumer event execution.
- Laurel Weir will lead the Entertainment & Youth Research and Insights team. Laurel will continue to report through our Corporate research group and will maintain her dotted line into Tanya.
- Barbara Zaneri will continue in her cross-brand leadership role as Executive Vice President, Global Program Acquisitions, running the Company’s centralized Content Acquisitions Group. Barb will report to me while leading the content acquisition efforts across all platforms including linear, streaming, on demand and pay.
Additionally, Josh Line, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Creative for Comedy Central, Paramount and TV Land will be moving to an exciting new corporate opportunity within the ViacomCBS family which will be announced soon.
Finally, as part of this transition, two senior executives will be departing the organization and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their many contributions to our teams and brands:
- Steve Albani, Senior Vice President, Communications for Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land. Across more than two decades that included 300+ episodes of “South Park,” three hosts of “The Daily Show,” and one Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, Steve’s strategic leadership helped establish Comedy Central as an important voice in the cultural and political conversation and helped launch the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy – Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Key & Peele, and Trevor Noah, to name but a few. His out-of-the-box approach greatly contributed to Comedy’s evolution as a multiplatform powerhouse and elevated the brand exponentially. More recently, he helped set the new narrative for Paramount Network, positioning it for a breakout year in 2020.
- Mike Greco, Executive Vice President for Content Strategy and Business Planning, MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo. Mike has been instrumental in leading the music group brands in maximizing our growth, developing programming strategies and content filters to best anticipate market shifts. Mike’s holistic approach to platforms and keen understanding of our audience helped fuel our growth across all platforms including 30 new channels on Pluto. He has been a strong and dedicated leader for his team and a great partner for the music group’s senior team.
Thank you as always, for your hard work, support and continued focus during this transition.
Best,
Chris
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.