London– Jens Richter, CEO FremantleMedia International (FMI), has confirmed a new wave of appointments to provide senior business support and expertise to the global sales operation, strengthen sales in the emerging markets and ramp up scripted and non-scripted acquisitions in the U.S. and internationally.
Jennifer Barrett joins the business as SVP, Legal and Business Affairs. She will report jointly to FMI’s COO, Bob McCourt and FremantleMedia’s General Counsel, Robin Chalmers and will lead and manage FMI’s legal and business affairs team, overseeing the acquisition of rights for FremantleMedia’s in-house teams and those of third party producers, as well as overseeing matters of corporate governance, risk management and compliance with law, policy and regulation. Barrett joins FMI from the BBC where she most recently held the post of Head of L&BA, Factual and Daytime. She has extensive experience in international distribution, co-production and co-financing, having worked at Universal Pictures International Entertainment, Australia’s ABC, the UK Film Council, BBC Films and Zenith Media, amongst others.
Furthering Richter’s plans to strengthen the emerging markets, Natalia Sterlikova has been appointed as Director Sales, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia & CIS. Based in Berlin, and reporting to Maximilian Bolenius, Senior VP Sales & Distribution, German speaking Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia & CIS, Sterlikova will be responsible for continuing to grow FMI’s business in the region, maximizing sales and pre-sales of all FMI content with traditional broadcasters and emerging platforms and giving additional focus and attention to this territory. A native Russian speaker, she joins FMI from All3Media International where she was Senior Sales Executive, responsible for expanding the business in Central & Eastern Europe. The hire follows the recent announcement of Amaç Erol Us as Sales Director in FMI’s Dubai office where he is responsible for exploring tape distribution and format growth opportunities across the Middle East, Africa, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.
As part of his plan to bolster acquisitions for FMI, Richter has separated responsibility for scripted and non-scripted activity in the US, announcing the promotion of Sam Harowitz and Hayley Dickson who become VP, Scripted Acquisitions and SVP, Head of Non-Scripted Global Acquisitions & Development respectively. As VP Scripted, Harowitz will work closely with FNMA’s scripted department and the UK-based Global Drama team, as well as third party producers in North America, to identify and secure content for distribution or development by the FMI sales teams. Dickson will do the same for non-scripted content and will have an expanded remit, which sees her take a more strategic role overseeing the acquisition and development of non-scripted content globally. She will work closely with London-based Director of Non-Scripted, Angela Neillis, who retains her UK focus in order to assess and exploit opportunities within this highly competitive market.
In separate news, FremantleMedia has expanded the remit of VP Commercial and Business Affairs Bart Jan Gorissen. Retaining his existing title, Gorissen will also become Commercial Director, Central and Eastern Europe and report directly to Daniela Matei, CEO of Nordics, Central Eastern European and Baltics (NOREEBA). Gorissen’s new role will see him will work with the Heads of Format Sales in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as the MDs of FremantleMedia Croatia and Poland in order to grow revenues from the ancillary exploitation of FremantleMedia’s brands in these markets. He will advise the team on external partnerships ranging from broadcasters and production companies, brand agencies, sponsors and digital partners.
