HRTS eNews - 08/04/2008 (Plain Text Version)
In this issue:
News
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HRTS Board elects new officers
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HRTS elects 5 to Board of Directors
Features/Columns
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From the Executive Director
Member Profiles
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Profile: Barbara Rubin
Member News
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Is your networking working?...Ours is!
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It's time to update the rolodex again...
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Raise your visiblity with HRTS Annual ads...
Jr. HRTS
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JHRTS News & Announcements
About The HRTS
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Officers, Board of Directors, Staff
HRTS Board elects new officers
Lionsgate's Kevin Beggs named HRTS President
The HRTS Board of Directors has elected Kevin Beggs, President, Programming & Production at Lionsgate Television as HRTS President for the new term beginning in September. Mr. Beggs succeeds outgoing HRTS President Chris Silbermann at the top of the 61 year old industry organization. Also elected to Officer positions: Zack Van Amburg, Co-President, Programming and Production, Sony Pictures Television as HRTS Vice President; Michael Wright, SVP, Original Programming, TNT as Secretary; and Martha Henderson, EVP and Manager, Entertainment Division, City National Bank as Treasurer for the 2 year term beginning in September 2008.
Kevin Beggs, Incoming HRTS President, is President of Programming & Production for Lionsgate Television with responsibility for development and production of series, movies for television, miniseries, and reality shows for both domestic and international distribution. Under his leadership, Lionsgate has become a significant supplier of TV programming for both broadcast and cable, with an impressive slate that currently includes AMC’s critically acclaimed drama MAD MEN and Showtime’s hit comedy WEEDS. Beggs is also President of Lionsgate’s feature-length documentary unit. Beggs was previously HRTS Vice President and is also co-chairman of NATPE.
Zack Van Amburg, incoming HRTS Vice President, was appointed Co-President of Programming and Production for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) in 2005. Van Amburg had served as Senior Vice President of Development and Cable Programming for SPT since 2002. During his tenure, he has been involved with the development and production of such prime-time cable series as FX’s Emmy Award-winning “The Shield,” Showtime’s series “!Huff,” FX’s hit drama “Rescue Me,” as well as “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” Previously, he was Vice President for Columbia TriStar Domestic Television, which has since become SPT. He joined the studio in 1997 as director of development. Prior to that appointment, he was director of development for Sony’s Game Show Network, and also helped launch a cable network for NBC. In addition, he has served as executive producer for several series for CNBC, and was a consultant for many series for Paramount Domestic Television.
Martha Henderson, incoming HRTS Treasurer, is Executive Vice President and Manager of City National Bank’s Entertainment Division. Ms. Henderson, who joined the bank in 1983, has managed the division for the past 19 years. She oversees a team of 130 entertainment banking professionals in Beverly Hills and New York and more than $2.2 billion in loans and $2 billion in deposits. Under her leadership, City National’s Entertainment Division has been recognized by the entertainment industry as the leader in providing personal financial services to business managers, talent agencies and entertainment law firms.
Michael Wright, incoming HRTS Secretary, is Senior Vice President in charge of Turner Entertainment Networks’ Content Creation Group. In this role, he is responsible for all original programming for TBS and TNT, including original series, limited series and specials, as well as for original programming ventures on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and original content for all three networks’ digital extensions. Wright is based in Los Angeles and reports to Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. Wright joined TNT in 2002 and was named Senior Vice President of Original Programming for the network in 2004. Since then, TNT has scored big on the original series front, with the hugely successful series The Closer leading the way as ad-supported cable’s #1 series of all time among households and viewers. The series, starring Golden Globe® winner and Emmy® nominee Kyra Sedgwick, marks one of many outstanding creative partnerships he has formed.