New Hires & Promotions at MTV

NEW YORK/SANTA MONICA: MTV has announced a series of key hires and appointments to its new leadership team under Sean Atkins, president of MTV.

Jacqueline Parkes, longtime chief marketing officer of Major League Baseball, has been brought on board as MTV’s new executive VP of marketing and creative. She will oversee MTV’s marketing efforts on all platforms and play a lead role in shaping and evolving the brand. Additionally, Parkes will be responsible for creative and marketing initiatives across MTV’s portfolio, including MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Live, Digital and MTV News.

MTV has also tapped Eli Lehrer, formerly the senior VP and head of non-fiction programming at Lifetime, to oversee MTV2 as executive VP. Lehrer will be responsible for the brand vision, voice and creative pipeline for the network.

“Jacqueline is a bona fide game-changer whose transformational brand leadership and fan engagement bridged pro baseball’s storied past with its innovative future,” said Atkins. “Her vision and experience will be invaluable as we reinvigorate MTV. Eli is one of the sharpest, most versatile and well-respected creative executives in the business. We’re thrilled to give him a homecoming to Viacom and a great canvas for his talents at MTV2.”

Meanwhile, two veteran Viacom executives will move into new roles at MTV. Kristin Frank, formerly the executive VP of connected content for MTV and VH1, will take on a new role as executive VP of strategy, revenue and operations. Erik Flannigan, formerly the executive VP at Viacom’s Music & Entertainment Group, will join MTV full time in the newly created role of executive VP of music/events strategy and development.

“Kristin is forward-thinking, her command of the media landscape is unrivalled, and she’ll be critical in ensuring that we are building the near-term strength of our business while continually investing in our future,” said Atkins.

Atkins continued, “As MTV strengthens its connection to music with new series and events, Erik’s strong creative sensibility, his talent for forging innovative partnerships, and his nuanced understanding of how our audience consumes music will lead the way.”