National Geographic Channels made major changes to its executive lineup Friday, naming Howard T. Owens as the president of National Geographic Channels U.S. and appointing Courteney Monroe to the newly created position of chief marketing officer for U.S. channels.
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Owens, who's replacing outgoing president Steve Schiffman, was a founding partner and managing director of Reveille LLC, where he spearheaded such series as "30 Days" and "The Biggest Loser." Monroe is coming aboard National Geographic Channels from HBO, where she served as executive vice president, consumer marketing and digital platforms. In that capacity, Monroe oversaw consumer advertising and platforms such as HBO.com and HBO GO.
Both Owens and Monroe will report to National Geographic Channels CEO David Lyle, who made the announcement.
“I have known Howard for more than a decade, and I am confident he is the right person at the right time to take our network into our next era," Lyle said of Owens. "His leadership, creativity, passion and vision is unmatched in this business, and is just what we need to drive our networks forward.”
Lyle characterized Monroe, who will come aboard in January, as "an award-winning, world-class talent, with a wealth of experience and demonstrated successes that will help us build on the considerable momentum the National Geographic Channels enjoy.”
In his new position, Owens will supervise domestic channels such as National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo Mundo, as well as overseeing the programming, development, communications, research and business affairs units of National Geographic's U.S. networks.
Schiffman will remain on through a transition period.
In addition to the Owens and Monroe hires, National Geographic Channels also announced that it had promoted Michael Cascio to executive vice president, programming for National Geographic Channel US, and moved Chris Albert up to senior vice president, communications worldwide & talent relations.
