SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture of Comcast and Paramount Global, has named Mark Neil chief financial officer (CFO), with current CFO Francesca Pierce taking on the newly created role of chief administration officer, the company said on Tuesday.
Neil will begin his role in January and join from A+E Networks EMEA where he has served as CFO. Based in London, he will report to SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan.
“The announcement follows current CFO Francesca Pierce’s appointment as SkyShowtime’s first chief administration officer,” the company said. “She will continue to report to Sarhan and will begin this new role in January once Neil formally joins as CFO.”
SkyShowtime recently also appointed former Netflix executive Kai Finke as chief content officer.
Neil has led the finance function at A+E Networks EMEA for seven years. “As CFO, he regularly interfaced with A+E Networks’ U.K. board of directors which, as a joint venture, includes executives from owners Sky and Hearst,” SkyShowtime said. Neil has more than three decades of experience in media and telecommunications, having previously worked at News Corporation, Thomson Reuters, and Scripps Networks.
“Mark is an exceptional finance executive, and I’m excited to welcome him to the SkyShowtime team,” said Sarhan. “His experience in helping to scale new businesses as well as working at a joint venture make him an ideal choice to succeed Francesca.”
In the new role as chief administration officer, Pierce, a former Sky executive, will focus on “maximizing the business both operationally and financially,” SkyShowtime said. The goal is “to drive continuous improvement across all departments, working with leaders across the business to ensure teams are working at pace and have a clear sense of purpose.”
Explained Sarhan: “In the year since SkyShowtime’s first launch, and just six months after its final launches, our team has done a tremendous job to scale the business rapidly. As we enter this next phase of the company’s growth, the ability to execute well — with both speed and efficiency — is even more important.”
SkyShowtime’s Francesca Pierce
Courtesy of SkyShowtime
