Univision Communications, in a restructuring that will see veteran Alina Falcón leave her current position to become a consultant to the Spanish-language media giant, has reached outside its ranks to hire executives to run its news and sports units.
The U.S. Spanish-language media leader has hired longtime journalist Isaac Lee to head its new operation, while Alexander "Sandy" Brown the CEO of rep firm Petry Holding, will lead the sports division. The executives will assume their new roles, beginning on Dec. 13.
Falcón -- who was named a Wonder Woman by Multichannel News editors in 2009 -- has held numerous senior roles throughout her 26 years with the company. She now will leave her current position as executive vice president, leading news and sports programming and production, to advise on special projects.
Falcón had been heading Univision's sports since February 2009 when David Downs left his job as president of Univision Sports to serve as executive director of the U.S. Bid Committee for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
"I am so grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such a talented and dedicated team at Univision, and to have experienced such success at our company," she said in a statement. "We have transformed the media landscape and given a voice to the issues that matter most to U.S. Hispanics. I feel that Univision is ideally positioned to ultimately become the No. 1 network in America, and I look forward to helping achieve this reality for the company while having the freedom to pursue longstanding personal interests in my new advisory role for special projects."
Lee, 39, most recently founded and served as chairman and editor-in-chief of Poder magazine. He now is responsible for leading the company's news division, including strategic and editorial oversight of programming and production across the Univision Networks, Univision Local Media and Univision Interactive Media. Lee spent the past 14 years in editorial roles leading prominent publications serving Spanish-speaking audiences in the U.S. and Latin America. Based in Miami, he will report to Univision Networks president Cesar Conde.
For his part, Brown, 48, will lead company-wide sports strategy and operations in his new role, overseeing athletics programming across the company's platforms. He joins Univision with over 20 years of leadership in broadcasting and media at prominent organizations such as ESPN, the National Basketball Association, Worldspace, Virtual Spectator and CNBC , where he managed multi-platform, cross-cultural sports programming for international audiences. Brown will be based in New York and also report to Conde.
"We are thrilled to welcome Isaac and Sandy to the Univision family and believe that their extensive media experience and deep industry relationships will be instrumental in taking our news and sports offerings to the next level," said Joe Uva, president and CEO Univision Communications, in announcing the changes. "I am confident that with his intimate understanding of our audiences, Isaac will further advance our mission to provide the most informative, unbiased and comprehensive news coverage to the U.S. Hispanic community while Sandy will further bolster our top-notch sports offerings with his profound track record of strategic and results-driven leadership in sports. I also want to thank Alina for her many years of service to Univision and the Hispanic community. We are delighted that she will remain a consultant and special advisor to the Company so that we can continue to benefit from her insights."
Noted Conde: "Throughout her career at Univision, Alina has been a pivotal force in guiding the company to its current leadership position with a powerful combination of journalistic integrity, professionalism and experience. I join the Univision family in thanking Alina for her contributions and look forward to her continuing to drive growth and success throughout our organization in her new role. I also look forward to working alongside Isaac and Sandy as we continue to expand our lead as the No. 1 destination for Hispanic America."
