Beyond Rights names COO, promotes acquisitions SVP & EVP

LR: James Mathews, Claire Runham, Sarah McCormack

Australia- and London-based Beyond Rights has made a series of promotions across the business, including naming a COO.

James Mathews has been promoted from head of business affairs, legal & operations into the newly created position of COO, while finance director Mike Ibberson will become CFO. Matthews and Ibberson will work closely with David Smyth, who was appointed CEO in 2021, as revealed by TBI.

In the acquisitions team, Sarah McCormack is upped from SVP to EVP, while Claire Runham has been promoted to SVP and co-ordinator Hannah Rideout becomes acquisitions executive.

Aleix Catala and Elisabeth Bland in the operations team are promoted to director of operations and operations executive respectively. Finally, Beyond Rights has hired Pat Bruen as finance director, reporting into Mike Ibberson.

Smyth said: “I inherited a terrific team when I joined Beyond Rights six months ago and while I’ve had the opportunity to bring in some new talent in that time, these promotions are well-deserved reflections of the day-to-day dedication, commitment, and willingness to always go above and beyond by so many of the existing team.

“In some ways they are overdue, but it was important for me to work with everyone for a while and be able to see not only the huge contributions each has made – whether by driving efficiency, innovating processes or bringing in fantastic new content – but to also reach our year end in great financial health with a consolidated, re-energised team and an exciting vision for our future.”

Smyth took charge at Beyond Rights in January, replacing former CEO Kate Llewellyn-Jones. She had previously been MD at UK distributor TCB Media Rights but left the company in 2018, prior to its acquisition by Beyond.