HBO Max Sets EMEA Leadership

In advance of the international rollout of HBO Max, WarnerMedia has appointed Christina Sulebakk, previously general manager of HBO Europe, as general manager for HBO Max EMEA.

Sulebakk will be responsible for upgrading current HBO streaming services in existing markets (HBO Nordic, HBO España, HBO Portugal and HBO Go in Central Eastern Europe) to HBO Max services starting in 2021, and for the expansion in due course of HBO Max into more territories across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She reports to Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International.

The existing HBO-branded streaming services in Europe will start the upgrade to HBO Max later this year.

Line Mykland will be leading the content experience team, which will be responsible for developing and implementing the editorial strategy and vision for the HBO Max platform in EMEA, with a focus on the local audience and customer base.

Roberto Soto is heading up growth marketing, leading and overseeing a team that includes commercial strategy and business development, subscriber acquisition, CRM and customer service, social, brand, digital creative and activations and publicity.

Brett Horowitz will be leading data, insights and planning, with oversight of the finance and strategy and data and insights teams.

Tobias Andersson will be the EMEA regional legal lead. He will be part of the HBO Max global legal team, led by David Ho.

Andreas Ferdinand will be leading product experience, with a dual reporting line to both the EMEA team and the HBO Max Global Product team under Sarah Lyons to shape the app experience across all major platforms throughout EMEA.

Mark Spivey will be the talent lead, developing a people strategy that supports the overall HBO Max priorities and shapes the culture in EMEA.

Sulebakk said: “With this strong group of executives, their great experience from decades of working within the D2C business and their highly skilled teams, we are more than ready to upgrade our HBO-branded services across Europe to HBO Max, while also planning, preparing and launching in many new territories across EMEA in the years to come. Supported by all our WarnerMedia colleagues and as part of a best-in-class global HBO Max team, I couldn’t be more excited about the ambitious plans for HBO Max and the journey ahead of us.”