Yahoo News APA Promotes Five Employees to Partner
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APA has upped four agents and one executive to partner across four departments. Jeff Witjas in talent, Sheryl Petersen and Mike Goldberg in scripted literary, Steve Fisher in intellectual property and Julia Johnson in business affairs & legal will all be joining the partner suite.
“I’m very proud to have these five extraordinary individuals join our partnership,” commented APA CEO Jim Gosnell in making the announcement. “Their diehard passion, creativity, teamwork and progressive strategies have played an integral role in navigating our clients’ success stories while setting a standard of excellence and leadership across our company.”
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Witjas began his career in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he worked his way up to vice president across all aspects of industry representation during his long tenure. He joined APA in 2001 as senior vice president in the talent department, where he continues to represent numerous successful and high-profile clients in all areas of the entertainment industry. Witjas is also very active in numerous charities with his clients, including The Muscular Dystrophy Association, The Kidney Foundation, Make-A-Wish Program and The Morris Animal Foundation.
Petersen, who joined APA in 2006 after stints at Premiere Artists Agency and Don Buchwald & Associates, was promoted to senior vice president of the motion picture literary department in 2018 before being named department co-head late last year. Petersen is also a member of APA’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Initiative and helped spearhead the agency’s Women’s Empowerment Group (WE APA) that fosters one-on-one mentorships and facilitates philanthropic work with numerous local Los Angeles charities.
Goldberg joined APA as a film/TV agent in 2013, with a special focus on the agency’s literary crossover clients. Prior to APA, Goldberg served as literary manager at New Wave Entertainment, where he grew a reputation for outselling every other management company in the feature film spec script arena. Before New Wave, he co-ran the literary department at Roar, and co-owned the literary management firm Abstract Entertainment, which was acquired by Roar in 2010.
Fisher is senior VP and head of the intellectual property department at APA. Prior to joining the agency in 1999, Fisher served in various capacities at ICM and H.N. Swanson before its acquisition by The Renaissance Agency. He began his career in television journalism in New York, where he worked as head of the research department at World News Tonight for several years. Fisher founded the intellectual property department at APA, which represents novelists, nonfiction authors, journalists, life rights holders, publishers, blog writers and content creators across all categories.
In her role as executive vice president of global business affairs & general counsel, Johnson advises on a wide array of APA client deals. Working with agents across all divisions, Johnson has played an integral role in helping clients grow their brand and businesses across all media platforms, from music to on-camera film, television and streaming to producing, gaming and other ancillaries such as sponsorship, endorsement and brand integration.
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