DEGI Names New Co-Chair & Board Members

Digital Entertainment Group International (DEGI) has appointed Johnnie Thompson, director of digital stores at The Walt Disney Company EMEA, as co-chair and added five new members to its board.

DEGI has also added to the board Andrew Stewart, head of Prime Video Store for Western and Northern Europe at Prime Video; Brandon DiMassa, senior VP of international digital transactional at NBCUniversal; Ewa Voigt, director of digital distribution and international licensees at Warner Bros. Discovery; Fahad Durrani, head of product, content discovery and monetization for Google TV at Google; and Paul Newton, head of commercial at Sky Store.

Thompson joins fellow co-chair Ruth Sharp, VP and head of digital distribution at Warner Bros. Discovery. He succeeds Joe Braman, outgoing senior VP of international digital account management at NBCUniversal, who left the company earlier this year after a decade with the organization.

Additional board members include Amy Jo Smith (DEGI), Ana Iglesias (NBCUniversal), David Hare (Amazon & MGM Studios), Greg Tod (Paramount Pictures), Jesper Dahlgaard (Nordisk Film), Laura Broadbent (The Walt Disney Company), Lesley Johnson (BBC Studios), Liz Bales (BASE/DEGI), Robert Marsh (Sony Pictures Entertainment) and Tom Reveler (Lionsgate).

“The DEGI continues to play an increasingly important role in advancing the digital home entertainment industry by providing an essential forum to come together to share knowledge, insights and expertise,” Thompson said. “It’s a particularly exciting time to be in this business, and I’m looking forward to working alongside Ruth Sharpe as co-chair and with the whole of the DEGI Board as its scope continues to grow.”

Bales, CEO at DEGI, said, “I am incredibly excited to welcome Johnnie and The Walt Disney Company as our new DEGI co-chair, alongside new DEGI board members from Google, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. This is a hugely important time for DEGI, as its international reach and insights continue to grow year on year. The DEGI Board, with its wealth of expertise across production, distribution, product and retail, adds significant value to all our stakeholders. We are thrilled to collaborate with such exceptional talent, thank them for their contributions at the 2024 DEGI Roadshows in Paris and Stockholm and look forward to their participation in London on Tuesday, April 30, and in Berlin.”