Stehmeier, Eyre exiting Off the Fence

Bo Stehmeier and Georgina Eyre are leaving distributor Off the Fence as part of a restructuring that sees the firm draft in Modern Times Group’s director of pay TV channels.

OTF managing director, distribution Stehmeier (pictured) is leaving the company this month after eight years. There’s currently no word of his next post.

“Bo has been a fantastic manager and integral member of the team with a tireless appetite for innovation and fun,” said OTF CEO Ellen Windemuth. “I have no doubt that he will continue to have a stellar career.”

With Stehmeier exiting, Imelda Wiebers has been promoted to head of distribution, though this is not a like-for-like replacement. She will work under COO Darrel James, who is responsible for “the optimisation of the company’s distribution systems”.

Also exiting is head of acquisitions Eyre. She will be replaced by MTG’s Mette Kanne-Behrendsen, who joins the firm as sales managers Ludo Dufour, Gerbrig Blanksma and Mark Dee-Shapland promoted to VPs of sales.

Kanne-Behrendsen will be based in London, tasked in part with overseeing “an upscale in volume of high quality non fiction” for the Off the Fence catalogue.

In her current post she oversee MTG documentary channels Viasat History, Viasat Explore and Visast Nature in the Nordic region, central and eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and the CIS region. She joins OTF on September 1, reporting to Windemuth.

“Off The Fence continues its fast track growth  and Mette’s extensive knowledge of the factual production arena alongside her understanding of what the market needs, put her into an ideal position for the role,” said Windemuth.

Dufour, Blanksma and Dee-Shapland, meanwhile, now report to Windemuth following what the company describes as a “three-fold increase in revenue over the past few years”.

“Mark, Gerbrig and Ludo have all been vital to the revenue growth we’ve generated,” said Windemuth. “Their achievements are underpinned by their in depth territory expertise and knowledge of the non-fiction market. They are absolutely the right people to take our commercial success to the next level.”