Elli Hakami is joining MTV as its new executive vice president of current series and programming.
In the role, she will head reality series creation and development on the East Coast alongside MTV’s executive development team. Hakami will be based in New York and report to MTV’s programming president Susanne Daniels.
“Over the course of her career, Elli has built a great reputation for delivering incredibly rich and diverse programming during her time with BBC Worldwide Productions, Discovery Channel, TruTV and more,” Daniels said in a statement. “Her expertise and instincts for finding and developing unique unscripted shows and franchises will be an amazing addition to our creative team at MTV.”
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Hakami added, “I have always admired MTV’s ability to innovate and create break through content so I am thrilled to join Susanne and the MTV team.”
Hakami comes to MTV after working at BBC Worldwide Productions as its senior vice president of programming and production. In that role, she managed the development, talent and production teams for BBC’s unscripted department. During her time at the company, Hakami developed several popular series, including TLC’s “What Not to Wear,” BBC 2’s “Richard Hammond’s Crash Course,” HBO’s “Americans in Bed,” and National Geographic’s “Life Below Zero.”
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She has also worked at Discovery, TruTV, New York Times Television and HBO’s original documentary department.
Other credits include Discovery’s “Gold Rush: Alaska,” several Shark Week specials and HBO’s “America Undercover.”