As part of integration planning for pending acquisition of 21 Century Fox, Disney names Peter Rice chairman, Disney Television and co-chair, Disney Media Networks; Dana Walden, chairman, Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment; John Landgraf, chairman, FX Networks and FX Productions; and Gary Knell, chairman, National Geographic Partners; Ben Sherwood, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney|ABC Television Group, remains in role until acquisition closes ... Fox, company to be spun off in Disney/21st Century Fox, names executive vice presidents Danny O’Brien, from General Electric, also head-government relations; Hope Hicks, ex-White House, also chief communications officer; Rita Tuzon, also corporate general counsel; Jill Ratner, chief litigation counsel; and Kevin Lord, human resources.
Entertainment lawyer Robert Schwartz, ex-Irell & Manella, joins Quinn Emanuel as partner ... O’Melveny announces Hassen Sayeed, ex-Paul Hastings, as partner-intellectual property and technology ... Jeffer Mangels names Rex Hwang, ex-Glaser Weil, as partner-patent, trademark and copyright ... Wilkinson Barker taps from Comcast Michael Nelson as senior adviser.
Entertainment Software Association names Senior Vice President-General Counsel Stanley Pierre-Louis interim president-CEO; Michael Gallagher steps down from that role ... Covington promotions to partners include Alice Ahn, patent litigation; Shara Aranoff, intellectual property; Ashden Fein, cybersecurity; Laura Kim, privacy; Kevin King, communications among other areas; Cortlin Lannin, antitrust and consumer; Micaela McMurrough, cybersecurity and data privacy; Adrian Perry, IP and data ... Technet hires from California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues Courtney Jensen as executive director-California and Southwest.
Mintz boosts intellectual property practice with Michael Graif, ex-Curtis, Mallet-Prevos, as member ... Twilio hires as vice president-global policy and regulatory affairs Sanford Reback, ex-Akamai, and as head-regulatory affairs for North America, Rebecca Thompson, ex-Competitive Carriers Association, which taps Alexi Maltas, from Hogan Lovells, to replace her ... Crown Media Family Networks appoints Daryl Berg, ex-Sound Canyon, vice president-music strategies and licensing.
21st Century Fox promotes, effective with close of Disney transaction, Eric Shanks to CEO-Fox Sports; Mike Biard to president-operations and distribution, Paul Cheesbrough to chief technology officer and head-direct to consumer platforms, Marianne Gambelli to president-ad sales and Steve Tomsic to chief financial officer ... Richard Sofield, ex-DOJ, joins Wiley Rein’s National Security Practice as partner ... IHeartMedia hires Chuck Deskins, ex- C3 Media Advertising, senior vice president-inside sales.
CenturyLink promotes Clay Bailey to senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, succeeding John Jones, retiring ... Information Technology Industry Council hires Jennie Westbrook, ex-Precision Strategies, and Clare Sahin, ex-Signal Group, as, respectively vice president-external affairs and manager-state and local affairs ... Kramer Levin taps Harry Rubin from Ropes & Gray as partner-head of the firm’s new Intellectual Property and Technology Transactions practice ... CTIA hires from The Pew Charitable Trusts Dori Kreiger as executive director.
Space Foundation adds Richard Cooper, ex-SAS Institute, as vice president-strategic communications and outreach ... Comcast Spotlight names Brendan Condon, AdMore, chief revenue officer ... BeckTV appoints Matt Weiss, ex-CEI, senior engineer-vice president, Eastern region.
Shuanise Washington, ex-Washington Solutions, joins The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications as president-CEO ... Evolution Equity Partners announces Karthik Subramanian, ex-Cisco, as partner-cybersecurity, enterprise software, IoT, cloud and analytics ... Kore.ai names Michael Eckhoff, ex-Greenway Health, chief revenue officer ... Monument Policy Group hires Stacey Hutchinson, ex-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as principal ... U.S. Black Chambers President Ron Busby becomes AT&T Supplier Diversity Think Tank member ... Redbox hires Chris Yates, ex-Dell and CinemaNow, as general manager-Redbox On Demand, new post.
Christine Wilson, ex-Delta, becomes FTC commissioner, replacing Maureen Ohlhausen (see this section of the Sept. 26 issue) ... FTC Chairman Joe Simon names Gail Levine, leaving Uber, Competition Bureau deputy director ... TechNet names David London, leaving ofo, as vice president-state policy and politics ... Tegna promotes Akin Harrison to senior vice president-general counsel and secretary, becoming member leadership team on retirement of Todd Mayman, executive vice president-chief legal and administrative officer, in early 2019.
Maureen Ohlhausen exits commissioner post at FTC, as of Sept. 25, when term ended ... Wireless Infrastructure Association promotes Zac Champ and Don Andrew to vice presidents, respectively, government affairs and spectrum management ... Facebook hires from Computer and Communications Industry Association Bijan Madhani as privacy and public policy manager ... Interactive Advertising Bureau names media consultant Susan Hogan senior vice president-research and measurement ... Michael Brown leaves Symantec, becomes DOD's Defense Innovation Unit managing director.