Versant has appointed a new suite of leadership hires across its marketing, news editorial standards, technology operations and legal divisions, the company announced Wednesday.
As a part of the new appointments, Comcast’s spinoff company has named Frank Tanki as chief marketing officer for entertainment and sports, Tom Clendenin as chief marketing officer for CNBC and MSNBC, Brian Carovillano as SVP of standards and editorial partnerships for news, Nate Balogh as EVP and chief information officer and Brian Duffy as VP of technical operations.
Kyle Strickland has also been hired as SVP of business product and operations, while Jayshree Mahtani serves as SVP of associate general counsel for corporate governance, M&A and commercial transactions and assistant corporate secretary. Additionally, Andrew Borteck has been named SVP and associate general counsel for sports, digital and direct-to-consumer.
Comcast's Spinoff Will Be Called Versant
Most Versant hires are NBCUniversal veterans, with Clendenin most recently serving as SVP and chief marketing officer for NBCUniversal News Group, Carovillano leading NBCUniversal News Group Standards team, Balogh serving as SVP and CIO for the NBCUniversal Media Group and Strickland supporting NBCUniversal’s technology, operations and engineering departments.
Tanki joins Versant after founding TNK Marketing. He previously held roles at Anthem Sports and Entertainment as well as Viacom, while Mahtani most recently served as general counsel and SVP of operations at Skillshare, and held previous positions at Shutterstock and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
The hires are aimed at strengthening the company’s senior leadership team as it focuses on building a modern, audience-focused business while positioning itself for long-term growth, innovation and impact, per Versant.
The news comes months after Versant announced that NBCUniversal execs Susie Kricena and Michael Sluchan would serve as programming executives for the new company, with Kricena being appointed as SVP of content acquisitions while Sluchan will become Versant’s SVP of scripted content for entertainment.