Herb Scannell is putting his imprint on BBC Worldwide America.
Since being tapped as U.S. president this June, Scannell has been reorganizing the company’s leadership. The latest member of Scannell’s hand picked team is veteran media executive Ann Sarnoff, who has been named chief operating officer, the company announced on Wednesday.
The move follows last week’s announcement that Perry Simon will come on board as general manager, channels.
“Ann is one of the smartest business people I’ve worked with and one of the most collaborative,” Scannell said in a statement. “We have great potential for the BBC in America. With the addition of Ann on the business side and Perry’s editorial skills, we have the perfect team to realize it.”
Sarnoff joins the BBC from Dow Jones. She is being tasked with helping to expand the company’s U.S. presence, and will oversee advertising and affiliate sales. Sarnoff will assume her new post on September 15, and will be based at the company’s New York headquarters.
Sarnoff was most recently president of Dow Jones Ventures and senior vice president of strategy for Dow Jones. There she launched The Wall Street Journal executive conference business, FINS.com.
Sarnoff and Scannell have previously worked together at Viacom, where she spent 10 years. At Viacom, Sarnoff started as Nickelodeon's executive vice president of consumer products & business development, before moving on to develop new cable channels TV Land and Noggin.
Subsequently, she became chief operating officer for VH1 and CMT.
Following Viacom, Sarnoff was chief operating officer for the WNBA, where she ran the league’s business operations, player personnel and programs.
