Hearst hires media veteran to business development team

Maria Thrasher

Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG) has appointed media sales and marketing veteran Maria Thrasher as business partnerships and development executive.

Reporting to Amy DeGregorio, HMPG’s SVP and MD of sales for educational & informational programming, Thrasher joins the company after having run her own North Carolina-based consultancy firm, M. Thrasher Media, since 2017.

Prior to that, Thrasher was senior integrated marketing director for the radio broadcaster Radio One in the US, and has held sales and business-development positions with Guardian Television Network, tech start-up iProperty.com, radio broadcaster Emmis Communications and radio start-up Blue Chip Broadcasting.

HMPG, a business unit of Hearst Television, is an independent producer and distributor of original programming for TV stations, broadcast and cable networks and streaming services. Its titles include Matter of Fact With Soledad O’Brien, Weekend Adventure, CBS Dream Team, The More You Know and One Magnificent Morning.

“Maria brings tremendous experience, energy and enthusiasm to our business partnerships and development team; we’re thrilled to add her complementary talents as our expanded team delivers innovative, branded entertainment solutions to our clients,” said Bryan Curb, EVP & GM education & information at HMPG.