Below is a compilation of the latest moves in the industry.
Jack Acosta is leaving his post as KHOU Houston assistant news director to be KENS San Antonio’s news director. Acosta, who started as a producer at KHOU in 2005 and later served as executive producer, takes over for Triston Sanders, who left KENS to consult at Frank N. Magid Associates.
WXII Winston-Salem assistant news director Lisa Fulk has been upped to news director of the NBC affiliate. Fulk, who has spent 22 years at WXII, starts immediately. She reports to Michelle Butt, president and general manager, and succeeds Barry Klaus, who returned to New York.
Luis Martinez is rejoining 2C Creative as its design director. Martinez, who had been working on campaigns for clients like History Channel and NBC Sports for motion design house King and Country, led 2C’s art department for seven years previously.
Synacor Inc. announced April 21 the hiring of three executives. Anand Subramanian has been appointed senior VP, strategic operations; David Ho has been tapped as VP, professional services; and Singu Srinivas has been named general manager, strategic accounts.
Visual effects and design studio Artemple-Hollywood has added two industry veterans to the company. Richard Kidd, who has worked on movies, will be the new creative director and senior VFX supervisor. Award-winning commercial director Scott McCullough will serve as the new in-house director and director of photography.
Comcast Cable’s VP of content acquisition David Jensen is retiring from the company to move back to Colorado. He told friends and colleagues in an email the he will be publishing a garden memoir. Jensen helped solidify Comcast’s commitment to select minority owned and programmed channels to launch as a condition of its merger with NBCUniversal.
Tim Tebow, the NFL quarterback who had been serving as an analyst for the SEC Network, signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles and therefore will be leaving the network. The SEC Network is heading into its second year on the air.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has asked Iranian authorities to release Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian and drop charges against him of espionage, collaboration with hostile governments and propaganda. CPJ agrees with Rezaian's lawyer, who says there is no evidence of any of the charges.
KDVR-KWGN VP and general manager Peter Maroney is set to retire June 26. Maroney, who was president and general manager of WTVR Richmond for seven years before arriving in Denver in 2010 to run the Fox-CW station, will stay in Denver and either write about his 48-year broadcast career or do filmmaking.
The honorees in news and radio for the 74th annual Peabody Awards were announced April 20. Vice News was recognized for two stories, one on a Chicago high school and another on ISIS coverage. NBC News, MSNBC and NBCNews.com were also honored for ISIS coverage.
ESPN executive VP of sales and marketing Sean Bratches, the top ad man at the network, is departing after 27 years with ESPN. The company announced April 20 that Bratches will leave at the end of the year and serve in an advisory capacity until then. He was inducted into the B&C Hall of Fame last October.
4K Media has appointed Jonitha Keymoore as director of program sales. Keymoore, the former Viacom International Media Networks and Broadway Video executive, will oversee all broadcast and home video licensing for the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
The Fox Affiliate Board replaced Brian Brady with Larry Wert as its NAB TV board of directors representative. Wert, the Tribune president, was previously president and GM of NBC-owned WMAQ Chicago before coming to Tribune in 2013. Brady is the president and CEO of Northwest Broadcasting.
The ABC Television Network has appointed Kurt Hanson VP of engineering services and systems support at its Broadcasting Operations and Engineering (BP&E) group. Hanson, who spent the last five years as WABC-TV’s VP of engineering and technology, succeeds the retiring Ken Michel.
Regis Philbin, Steve Harvey, Marie Osmond and Craig Ferguson are among the presenters for the 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Also presenting will be Nancy O’Dell, Shemar Moore and Alex Trebek. The ceremony, which will be hosted by Tyra Banks, will be shown live on Pop on April 26.
Joseph Denk has been tapped as VP and general manager at Nexstar’s WATN-WLMT in Memphis and Jackson, Tenn., respectively. Denk, who will start immediately, had been VP and GM of Nexstar’s WFRV Green Bay and WJMN Marquette since 2011. He takes over for Ardyth Diercks at the Memphis and Jackson stations.
The chief engineer of the FCC’s Media Bureau, Alison Neplokh, has been elevated to deputy chief technologist. Neplokh, who has been with the FCC since 2002, has worked on the incentive auction, network neutrality and DTV transition. Neplokh was previously a software engineer with Ericsson.
The 74th annual Peabody Awards’ entertainment winners were announced April 16. SundanceTV’s The Honorable Woman and Rectify reeled in wins, as did FX’s The Americans and Fargo. HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Cinemax’s The Knick also both won awards.
Mark Lopez has been named executive VP and general manager, Univision Digital. Lopez, who starts in his new role May 1 and will be based in Miami, was formerly the head of U.S. Hispanic audience sales at Google. He will oversee business responsibilities for Univision Digital across platforms.
ABC News announced April 15 that Phillip Mena has joined as a correspondent. Mena, who will start in New York on May 4, had been a weekend anchor and reporter at Houston’s KPRC since 2012. He started his career as a multimedia journalist in El Paso, Texas.
WSET-TV has chosen Leesa Wilcher to be its new general sales manager. Wilcher, who had been general sales manager for Holston Valley Broadcasting Radio Group, previously served as GM of Media General’s local Roanoke Valley station WSLS.
