The head of Warner Bros. Discovery’s international business has given details of a new international leadership team following a string of senior departures.
Gerhard Zeiler shared the details in a staff memo.
“Following my recent announcements about the departure of Priya Dogra, Robert Blair, Hannes Heyelmann and Pierre Branco, I have been working with the leadership across the international business to create a new International structure that best leverages the strengths of our businesses, while empowering all of us to drive the future growth and success of the company,” he said.
Clement Schwebig, who has previously managed India, Southeast Asia and Korea (INSEAK) since 2020, will now be responsible for DACH (Germany, Austria Switzerland), France, Benelux and Africa which will be brought together into a single Western Europe & Africa market grouping.
James Gibbons, president and managing director for Australia, New Zealand and Japan, will lead a new APAC regional division comprising Asia Pacific, INSEAK and Western Pacific.
Andrew Georgiou, as previously announced, has taken over as head of business in the UK and Ireland in alongside the leadership of WBD Sports Europe.
In Europe, Alessandro Araimo will continue to run Southern Europe, combining Italy and Iberian Peninusala, while Christina Sulebakk will continue to run the Nordics.
Poland remains under Kasia Kieli.
Jamie Cooke, who oversees the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) and MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) regions and has responsibility for creative and all pay-TV channels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), will also have visibility of unscripted and linear content acquisitions. Myriam Lopez-Otazu, who is responsible for “sourcing and maximizing unscripted utilization across the EMEA WBD portfolio” in collaboration with Meredith Gertler’s team, will now report into Cooke.
Also, Vanessa Brookman will continue to run the EMEA kids business.
Qaisar Rafique will continue to lead commercial strategy for EMEA and APAC.
Louis Goldstein will continue to lead business operations for international.
“This team has both the attitude and competence to manage the complexity of the International business and a One Team mindset to collaborate effectively with the global partners across the company,” Zeiler said.
“I am fully aware that change can be unsettling, and we have had a lot of changes in these last 18 months. In addition to the organisational and personnel changes, we are also experiencing a difficult macroeconomic situation in combination with an acceleration of the transformational industry trends. This is not an easy situation for any company to manage through, including ours. But I am convinced, more than ever, that with our clearly defined strategy, the IP we have, and the content we produce along with your incredible dedication and commitment to our business, we are in the strongest position to successfully manage the changes and continue to thrive.”
