Endemol Shine names int’l ops COO

Marina Williams 2015Marina Williams has been named COO of international operations at Endemol Shine Group.

Williams (pictured) was formerly Endemol Shine’s regional CEO of central and eastern Europe and Middle East and North Africa, but has added India and Africa to her duties with the promotion.

She will work closely with management at local companies such as Endemol Shine Africa, Endemol Shine India, Endemol Shine Middle East, Endemol Shine Poland, Endemol Shine Turkey and the group’s Russian partner company, Weit Media.

She will also lead regional sales and licensing for territories under her control.

This comes after Endemol Shine’s co-international CEO, Gary Carter, decided to leave the merged Endemol and Shine businesses earlier this year. Williams previously reported to Carter, but now reports into international ops CEO, Martha Brass.

“Marina has contributed hugely to our success across central and eastern Europe and the MENA region and I’m thrilled that she is now taking on this expanded role for the group,” said Brass.

“The markets under her remit are essential to our continued growth and her leadership and experience will be enormously valuable to our global business.”

Williams joined Endemol Shine predecessor Endemol in 2008 as CEO of CEE operations, and added the MENA region to her duties in 2013. She was previously executive VP on eastern European broadcaster CME, and also worked at Fox International Channels, Fox Kids and Turner International Channels.

Williams told TBI in an exclusive recent interview the restructuring that has followed the merger of Endemol, Shine and Core Media, through parents 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management, had been a positive process for her territories.

“The transaction and merger is extremely positive news for my team and for the region in general,” she says. “We work across central and eastern Europe and MENA, and we are lucky because we are quite advanced in terms of our production set up in markets such as Turkey, Russia, Poland and the Middle East. Shine didn’t have any production bases in those territories.”

Furthermore, TBI yesterday reported Endemol Shine Group president Tim Hincks had told attendees to a speech at Bafta that mergers and acquisitions and foreign ownership of local production companies had not and would not stifle creativity at the production and distribution giant.

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