Herb Scannell is making himself at home at BBC Worldwide America and shaking things up in the network's executive ranks. His latest appointment is Sandy Ashendorf, who was named executive vice president network distribution Wednesday.
Scannell was tapped [5] to be president of BBC America in June. Since then, he's appointed several new executives including general manager Perry Simon [6]and Ann Sarnoff [7], who was named COO on Sept. 8.
Ashendorf was formerly an executive vice president in affiliate sales at MTV Networks, but she was axed in a round of layoffs [8] that claimed approximately 250 staffers in Feb. 2007. Since then, according to her LinkedIn profile [9], Ashendorf has worked as a principal at the media consulting firm UWS Strategies.
At the BBC, Ashendorf will be responsible for supervising affiliate sales and marketing initiatives in the U.S. for all BBC Worldwide America's channels and assets. She will report to Sarnoff.
Ashendorf replaces Kristina Song. According a spokesperson for the network, Song "left on her own accord" to take some "time off." Sarnoff announced Ashendorf's appointment on Wednesday.
"Kristina has done a fantastic job in establishing our affiliate sales business, and we are grateful to her. When she told us she wanted to take a complete break from the industry Sandy was the natural successor," Sarnoff said.