Sony Pictures Television has named two new vice presidents in New York. Sandra Szahun has been named vice president, branded entertainment, reporting to Stuart Zimmerman, executive vice president of ad sales, and Lori Drum, has come on board as vice president, syndication sales, reporting to Zack Hernandez, senior vice president, U.S. syndication sales.
Szahun comes to SPT from The Weather Channel, where she was vice president of sales marketing. She also served as head of sales and branded content at joyus.com.
Prior to that, she was vice president, integrated marketing for daytime and syndication at ABC Television. While there, she oversaw branded entertainment for shows such as Live With Kelly and Michael, Katie and The View. She also ran digital ad sales for ABC’s syndicated properties.
She started the brand integration at Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution during the launch of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2003. She also ran ad sales marketing for Discovery Communications, international ad sales.
In her new position, Drum will manage syndication sales in the northeastern region. Prior to joining SPT, she worked at CBS-owned cable network Pop as senior vice president of ad sales. In that position, she oversaw direct response, paid programming and digital. Prior to that, she was vice president of ad sales for UPtv. She started her career at NBCUniversal-owned Oxygen.
