The OTT SVOD platform Alchimie has decided to split the functions of chairman and CEO.
As a result, it has unanimously approved the appointment of Pauline Grimaldi d’Esdra as its CEO.
Alchimie notes that the appointment provides it with an experienced marketing and sales profile to ensure the platform’s deployment in France and abroad.
With a strong background in the media industry, Grimaldi d’Esdra has proven her ability to successfully sell content in a variety of formats over the past few years, most notably at Universal Pictures Video. She will be in charge of implementing the operational strategy by building partnerships with right owners, distributors and co-publishers.
Nicolas d’Hueppe, founder of Alchimie, will remain non-executive chairman of the company. He will work on defining its strategy and share his vision of the SVOD market.
Grimaldi d’Esdra spent nearly 15 years at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment France, first as financial director and director of operations. She was then appointed general manager France and actively participated in the creation of the first video publishing and distribution company combining the American studio Fox and the French studios Pathé & Europa Corp. Prior to joining Alchimie, she was general manager of Universal Pictures Video France for over 15 years.
Commenting on the changes, d’Huepp said: “2021 has been an intense year both professionally and personally, putting Alchimie’s governance to the test. I am delighted with Pauline’s appointment. Her experienced profile and her in-depth knowledge of the sector’s players will be invaluable assets for the success of the new deployment phase. Alchimie has chosen to entrust this task to an experienced person who will also significantly strengthen the Company’s governance with the dissociation of the two roles”.
Grimaldi d’Esdra added: “I am very happy and enthusiastic about the idea of joining the Alchimie team, which is carrying out a disruptive and ambitious project. Alchimie has solid fundamentals and offers something that is in line with the new ways of consuming content. I look forward to continuing to develop the platform by offering more premium and affinity content to our current and future subscribers”.
