JB Perrette, Kathleen Finch Expand Roles As Warner Bros. Discovery Sets Leadership Team

With the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger set to cross the finish line as early as Friday, David Zaslav—who will be chairman and CEO of the combined company—has set his leadership team for Warner Bros. Discovery. The team includes expanded roles for JB Perrette, who will lead all streaming efforts at the company, and Kathleen Finch, who will have oversight of almost all of the company’s U.S. networks. Finch—currently chief lifestyle brands officer at Discovery—will take on the new role of chairman and chief content officer, U.S. Networks Group, overseeing more than 40 U.S. networks. Her reports will include Nancy Daniels (chief content officer, Discovery Factual Networks), Brett Weitz (general manager, TBS, TNT and truTV) and Tom Ascheim (president, Warner Bros. global kids, young adults and classics). HBO and CNN will not fall under Finch’s purview. Casey Bloys—Adweek’s reigning TV Executive of the Year—will continue as chief content officer of HBO and HBO Max, while Chris Licht was named CNN Global chairman CEO in February following Jeff Zucker’s exit earlier this year. Both Bloys and Licht will report directly to Zaslav. WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar Exiting Ahead of Discovery Merger JP Perrette, who was formerly president and CEO, Discovery Streaming and International, will oversee all streaming—including HBO Max and Discovery+—as CEO and president, Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment. David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Games, will report to Perrette. Bruce Campbell was named Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, with responsibility for U.S. advertising sales, distribution revenue and content licensing; global corporate development and strategy; global streaming platform agreements; and the company’s legal affairs. He previously was as Discovery’s chief development, distribution and legal officer. David Leavy—Discovery’s chief corporate operating officer—will be chief corporate affairs officer, overseeing key business functions and groups, including corporate relations, global government relations and public policy, corporate marketing, global communications, corporate research, events and social responsibility. Channing Dungey will continue as chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, and Toby Emmerich continues as chairman as Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Gerhard Zeiler is president, international, with responsibility for the company’s businesses across more than 200 countries and territories. It was the same role he held at WarnerMedia. As previously announced, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will continue with that same role in the company. Other leadership team members retaining their Discovery positions include Adria Alpert Room (chief people and culture officer), Lori Locke (chief accounting officer) and Savalle Sims (general counsel). 'Fewer layers' and 'more accountability' “We are so excited to bring the heritage and legacies of these two great companies together by creating Warner Bros. Discovery, and I am proud that our new executive management team blends world-class leaders from both organizations as we take our first step toward one single cohesive, collaborative culture,” said David Zaslav, who will be CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement. “Today’s announcement combines a strong team of professional managers in a simpler organizational structure, with fewer layers, more accountability and a singular strategic focus as a global pure-play content company. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves with this team so that, together, we can write this next exciting chapter. These accomplished leaders will create a place where creatives, talent and all of our people in every corner of the globe can do their best work and inspire audiences everywhere with the magic, joy and wonder of world-class storytelling, news and sports.” Thursday's leadership announcement did not include any mention of an ad sales chief for Warner Bros. Discovery. Jon Steinlauf currently holds that role for Discovery (as chief U.S. advertising sales officer), while JP Colaco is head of advertising sales at WarnerMedia. The company said it will name a new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at a later date, and is also search for a chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. Earlier this week, several top WarnerMedia executives announced their departures ahead of the merger, including CEO Jason Kilar, HBO Max evp and general manager Andy Forssell, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff and evp and chief revenue officer Tony Gonclaves. On March 11, Discovery shareholders voted to approve the merger with WarnerMedia, which was the last major hurdle standing in the way of the union. The $43 billion deal is expected to close as early as Friday.