Lisa Hamilton Daly has exited her role as Hallmark’s EVP of programming, TheWrap has learned.
Hamilton Daly, who joined the brand in 2021, has departed Hallmark as the network eliminated the position altogether.
“Hallmark is aligning its consumer-facing touch points, including content, under a single leader, chief brand officer Darren Abbott, with a focus and expertise in the expression of the Hallmark brand to consumers — from product to experiences and now content, across multiple platforms,” they said in a Monday statement. “Darren has an innate understanding of the Hallmark brand and paired with his leadership and vision, will ensure our content aligns to the promise of our legacy brand.”
“Lisa is an extremely talented creative leader and we are grateful for her many contributions to Hallmark Media, including expanding our storytelling and characters in new ways,” the statement continued.
Her departure came several months after casting director Penny Perry alleged in an age discrimination lawsuit that Hamilton Daly told staffers she didn’t want to hire “old” people, including network favorites Holly Robinson Peete and Lacey Chabert. According to the suit, Hamilton Daly said Chabert, 42, is “getting older and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older.”
At the time, a representative for Hallmark told TheWrap, “Lacey and Holly have a home at Hallmark. We do not generally comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media.”
Prior to joining Hallmark in 2021, Hamilton Daly worked at Tony To and Dan Sackheim’s production company Bedrock Entertainment and previously served as director of original series at Netflix, where she developed shows like “Virgin River” and “Sweet Magnolias.”
She was also instrumental in Hallmark’s pivot into streaming as the network transformed its streaming arm, Hallmark Movies Now, into Hallmark+, which will serve as a hub for Hallmark’s original movies and series, including a new slate of unscripted programming that launched this fall.
