BBC Studios Moves Suzy Raia to Brands & Licensing Team

Suzy Raia, senior VP of consumer products and business development for BBC Studios, is to join the company’s brands and licensing division.

The switch is set to take place on October 2. Brands and licensing facilitates partnerships for various IP, including Bluey, Doctor Who, Top Gear, Dancing with the Stars and BBC Studios’ factual umbrella brand BBC Earth.

Raia will report to Nicki Sheard, president of brands and licensing. Raia will bring over her New York-based team.

Raia joined the BBC in 2018 as part of the consumer products and licensing team. Her move emphasizes BBC’s commitment to the global growth of key IPs.

The appointment follows a number of key hires as the division ramps up its activities, most notably in the hiring of the former co-CEO of Jungle Creations, Nat Poulter, as VP of digital—commercial, and Ashwin Desai as global director for gaming and interactive.

Sheard said: “This is an exciting move for the division and BBC Studios as we look to grow our capability to build a global consumer products and licensing business that focuses on our most promising IPs, in this case, Bluey and Doctor Who. The U.S. in particular is a key market for us, and success in the region is key to meeting our financial goals and achieving global success. I have no doubt that Suzy and her team will help us achieve these goals, and I am happy to welcome her to the team.”

Raia added: “Since having joined the global distribution team at BBC Studios in 2018, I’ve experienced nothing short of extraordinary support to build a team positioned for long-term success for the consumer products and licensing category across North America and LatAm. As the leadership team envisioned building franchise success, we were granted resources to strategically develop an organization positioned to maximize hit intellectual properties mined from the vast library of titles output by the stellar production teams at BBC Studios.

“Unifying the region with the global team underscores the opportunity at hand, and I’m confident that under Nicki’s leadership, the BBC Studios consumer products and licensing team will be a global powerhouse led by popular titles Bluey and Doctor Who. I’m so excited to work with Nicki and her team in this next stage of our journey as a global organization.”