Fremantle Spain ups Mario Briongos to CEO, after Jaime Ondarza exit

Mario Briongos (Source: Fremantle)

Fremantle Spain has promoted entertainment chief Mario Briongos to CEO, following the exit of Nathalie Garcia in October.

Garcia left Fremantle last year to head up ITV Studios Iberia, with Jaime Ondarza, CEO of Southern Europe, drafted to serve as interim CEO and Briongos named general director of entertainment under him. However, Ondarza left the company this month after becoming the victim of a €940,000 ($1m) bank scam.

Briongos now steps into the top job, overseeing Fremantle Spain’s entertainment, factual and scripted output, which includes formats such as Got Talent España and The Masked Singer; game shows like Password; and reality show The Farm.

His promotion comes as part of a wider restructure that will see the entire Fremantle Spain operation report to Briongos.

In entertainment, Belén Martín and Daniel Grande have been named executive producers, with Algerino Marroncelli to continue as creative director. The Fernando Jerez-led unscripted label En Cero Coma will now also report to Briongos, as will fiction director José Skaf.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mario Briongos as CEO of Fremantle Spain. Mario has been at Fremantle since 2014 and this new position is the result of the brilliant work that he has developed both in the company and within the Spanish entertainment market,” said Andrea Scrosati, group COO and CEO Continental Europe, Fremantle.