Nina L. Diaz & Tanya Giles Elevated In More Executive Promotions & Exits At ViacomCBS’ Entertainment & Youth Group

Nellie Andreeva

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ViacomCBS’ recently formed Entertainment & Youth Group has finalized its senior executive structure under President Chris McCarthy with several more promotions/expanded roles — for Nina L. Diaz, Tanya Giles, Keyes Hill-Edgar, Brianna Cayo-Cotter, Liza Burnett Fefferman, Jacqueline Parkes, Keri Panichi Flint, Laurel Weir, and Barbara Zaneri –and two departures.

Leaving the company are Comedy Central veteran Steve Albani, most recently SVP, Communications for Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land, and Mike Greco, EVP for Content Strategy and Business Planning, MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo. Josh Line has been reassigned within ViacomCBS.

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The announcement, made by McCarthy in an internal memo, follows the news earlier today that MTV Networks veteran Amy Doyle will be stepping down from her post as EVP and general manager of MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo.

Veteran MTV Networks unscripted executive Diaz, most recently President, Programming & Development For MTV, VH1 & Logo Group, has been named President of Content and Chief Creative Officer for the entire group, overseeing both unscripted and scripted programming. Giles, most recently General Manager, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land, is expanding her General Manager role to include Head of Content Strategy and Programming.

As part of their promotions, Diaz and Gilles are absorbing Doyle’s responsibilities. Diaz’s larger slate includes talent development, which Doyle had overseen, while Giles expands her General Manager role at Comedy, Paramount Network and TV Land to now encompass the entire Entertainment & Youth portfolio, including MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo, which had been Doyle’s domain.

ViacomCBS’ Entertainment & Youth division consists of MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, VH1, Pop, CMT, TV Land, Logo and their respective content studios. As part of the executive restructuring within the new unit, McCarthy last week promoted Comedy Central Co-head of Original Content Sarah Babineau, as well as President of Development and Production for Paramount Network and TV Land Keith Cox, while Comedy Central’s Co-Head of Original Content Jonas Larsen stepped down.

Here is McCarthy’s memo, which lists the new titles and responsibilities for his senior leadership while also acknowledges the departing executives.

Hey Everyone,

Building on last week’s brand leadership announcements, I’m excited to share our unified senior management team for the Entertainment & Youth Group.

Please join me in congratulating these exceptional and seasoned executives, with whom I am honored to be working alongside to harness our full collective strength and maximize our full creative potential:

• Brianna Cayo-Cotter will lead the combined Social Impact teams as Senior Vice President, where she will oversee our campaigns and initiatives across the suite of brands.

• Nina L. Diaz will take on an expanded role as President of Content and Chief Creative Officer where she will be leading creative efforts in the development and producing of all content across our portfolio as well as all casting and talent development.

• Keyes Hill-Edgar will be taking on a newly created Chief Operating Officer role, where he will oversee business planning, operations and strategy as well as serve as our lead working across ViacomCBS with our Corporate partners in BALA, Finance, Production, Strategy and Distribution.

• Liza Burnett Fefferman has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Communications, where she will lead the combined communications and press teams across our group and continue to co-lead MTV Documentary Films with Nina.

• Keri Panichi Flint will lead the Entertainment & Youth production management group. Keri will oversee all production for our content and will partner with Megan Ring on the third-party scripted studios content. Keri will continue to report through corporate production with a dotted line into Nina.

• Tanya Giles expands her General Manager role to include Head of Content Strategy and Programming, here she will lead content strategy, programming, research and insights. In addition, Tanya will oversee our group’s efforts in maximizing IP expansion globally as well as best monetize our content with our Corporate partners in Sales, Distribution and Pluto.

• Jacqueline Parkes broadens her role as Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Digital Studios where she will lead all brand strategy, marketing creative, media buying and asset development for our marketing group, as well as oversee all digital efforts in partnership with VDS, including social media & digital original content. Jacqueline will also now oversee all consumer event execution.

• Laurel Weir will lead the Entertainment & Youth Research and Insights team. Laurel will continue to report through our Corporate research group and will maintain her dotted line into Tanya.

• Barbara Zaneri will continue in her cross-brand leadership role as Executive Vice President, Global Program Acquisitions, running the Company’s centralized Content Acquisitions Group. Barb will report to me while leading the content acquisition efforts across all platforms including linear, streaming, on demand and pay.

Additionally, Josh Line, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Creative for Comedy Central, Paramount and TV Land will be moving to an exciting new opportunity within the ViacomCBS family which will be announced soon.

Finally, as part of this transition, two senior executives will be departing the organization and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their many contributions to our teams and brands:

• Steve Albani, Senior Vice President, Communications for Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land. Across more than two decades that included 300+ episodes of “South Park,” three hosts of “The Daily Show,” and one Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, Steve’s strategic leadership helped establish Comedy Central as an important voice in the cultural and political conversation and helped launch the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy – Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Key & Peele, and Trevor Noah, to name but a few. His out-of-the-box approach greatly contributed to Comedy’s evolution as a multiplatform powerhouse and elevated the brand exponentially. More recently, he helped set the new narrative for Paramount Network, positioning it for a breakout year in 2020.

• Mike Greco, Executive Vice President for Content Strategy and Business Planning, MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo. Mike has been instrumental in leading the music group brands in maximizing our growth, developing programming strategies and content filters to best anticipate market shifts. Mike’s holistic approach to platforms and keen understanding of our audience helped fuel our growth across all platforms including 30 new channels on Pluto. He has been a strong and dedicated leader for his team and a great partner for the music group’s senior team.

Thank you as always, for your hard work, support and continued focus during this transition.

Best,
Chris

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