ViacomCBS restructured the management of its international networks division headed by David Lynn, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International.
The new organization includes two brand groups and three pan-regional management hubs, all reporting to Lynn.
Kerry Taylor, currently executive VP of MTV international and CMO for VCNI UK, has been promoted to executive VP of VCNI Entertainment & Youth brands. She will oversee MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and BET. Taylor reports to Lynn and to Chris McCarthy, president of entertainment & you brands at ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks.
Jules Borkent was promoted to executive VP, VCNI Kids & Family. Borkent has been with Nickelodeon since 2001 and will work in close alignment with Nickelodeon US, the company said.
“Kerry and Jules are exceptional creative and strategic professionals. Kerry brings equal parts marketing acumen and a genuine connection to the global youth zeitgeist which has driven MTV’s successful international franchise strategy and ratings success. Jules is a respected industry voice, who’s dedicated to bringing unique and diverse content to Nickelodeon audiences around the world,” Lynn said.
“Consolidating our international flagship brands into two groups will simplify our structure and more closely align our business with ViacomCBS’ U.S. brands, enabling us to share more content and resources across our different brands and extract maximum value from our content investment and libraries,” Lynn said.
ViacomCBS Networks International’s Pan-Regional hubs will be led by Maria Kyriacou, who had been president of International for ITV Studios, Raffaele Annecchino, now president of VCNI’s operations in Southern and Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and JC Accosta, who was recently promoted to president of ViacomCBS Networks America.
Borkent and Acosta succeed Pierluigi Gazzolo, who was promoted to president of studios and OTT for ViacomCBS Networks International from president, VCNI Americas and executive VP of Nickelodeon International.
Mark Whitehead, president & managing director of VCNI Asia Pacific, will be leaving the company, at the end of January 2020.
“ViacomCBS is truly a global leader in terms of the quality, volume and range of content we produce and own and we aim to exploit the incredible pipelines at our disposal to deliver exceptional growth across international markets, not just for ourselves but for our partners as well,” said Lynn. “With Maria joining and with newly expanded roles for Raffaele, JC, Pier, Kerry and Jules we have an exceptional leadership team in place and a simplified structure that allows us to be more tightly focused on seeking out the most attractive opportunities to license our brands, content and IP in the highest value and fastest growing international markets, with a particular focus on accelerating our streaming strategy.”
