Turner names Urdaneta replacement in Lat Am

Turner Latin America has named Joel Whitten ‘Whit’ Richardson III as its president, in effect replacing Juan Carlos Urdaneta.

Richardson is a 23-year Turner veteran, and in his new role has taken charge of the company’s regional general entertainment, kids, sports and free-to-air channel brands; distribution of the CNN news services; and L&M activity.

He is known internally for aiding the launch of Turner’s Argentinian business, helping it go from an operation of 15 employees in 1998 to more than 750 today, and for the acquisitions of the likes of Chilevision, Esporte Interativo and CNN Chile.

His appointment come after long-serving Turner Lat Am chief Urdaneta exited last year, leaving Turner International president Gerhard Zeiler to lead the regional operation in the interim.

Zeiler said Richardson was “a highly respected executive inside and outside Turner”, adding he had “a clear vision of how we adapt the organisation to truly become a next-generation media provider”.

Richardson who was previously executive VP of distribution and GM of Argentina, said he would “prioritise collaboration, innovation and change” to “aggressively position for continued growth and success”.

Turner has a total of 54 channels in three languages in 44 territories across the Latin American region.