Versant has tapped NBCUniversal’s Charisse Williams Larado to serve as its vice president of sports talent strategy and recruitment.
In her new role, Larado will focus on maintaining a competitive roster of on-air talent. She will also collaborate with The Golf Channel, NASCAR, WNBA, USGA, IMSA, Olympics, Premier League and international counterparts to elevate the profiles of on-air personalities and support talent needs. She will report to senior vice president of talent strategy Jessica Kurdali.
Larado, who has over 15 years of editorial and talent management experience across linear, streaming, digital and audio, most recently served as NBCUniversal News Group’s senior director of talent strategy and recruitment across NBC News, Today, Dateline, NBC News Now, MSNBC and digital properties.
Before that, she was a senior producer for “Today All Day,” overseeing editorial content, production, talent and programming strategy for the show’s 24/7 streaming channel and original podcast series, “Making Space With Hoda Kotb” and “Read With Jenna.”
Larado’s appointment comes on the heels of Versant acquiring the media rights to the U.S. Golf Association championships through 2032, which will see USA Network and Golf Channel present live coverage.
USA Network began coverage of the USGA championships in 2022 with the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open, while Golf Channel first presented live coverage of the USGA championships in 1995 – the year it launched as the first single-sport cable network in television history – when it presented live three-day coverage of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.
Additionally, USA Network and Golf Channel will come together under a new brand — USA Sports — with new logos in the coming weeks that will honor the former’s legacy in sports and entertainment and the latter’s 30-plus year history as TV’s home for golf.
