Sixteen South Bolsters Senior Management Team

Sixteen South is expanding its senior management team with three new hires, including Emma Fernando, who joins the company as head of production.

In addition to Fernando, Sixteen South tapped Andrew Rajan to serve as commercial director and Darin McKeown as financial controller. Sixteen South is also appointing two non-executive directors to assist with the growth of the studio.

Fernando has overseen several high-profile shows in various roles for Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network and CBeebies, including Henry Hugglemonster (Disney Junior), The Amazing World of Gumball (Cartoon Network) and Nella The Princess Knight (Nick Jr.). Fernando was instrumental in staffing up the new 2D Manchester studio for Brown Bag Films.

For the last seven years, Rajan has provided business affairs consultancy services for most of Northern Ireland’s major production companies, including Sixteen South. Rajan is a qualified solicitor and was a partner in a major London law firm. He was also formerly the director of legal and business affairs for the Planet 24 group of companies where he advised on series such as The Word, The Big Breakfast, TFI Friday and Survivor.

McKeown is a seasoned professional with a range of skills and experience across multiple industries in various territories, including Africa, North and South America, Asia, India and Europe.

Colin Williams, the creative director of Sixteen South, said, “These are exciting times for Sixteen South and I’m delighted to welcome Emma, Andrew and Darin to our talented and passionate management team. While we are committed to creating, developing and producing our own original IP, we’re also very much open for business for high-quality partnerships and service work and our new management team puts us in a great position to maximize all our activities. We’re focused on growth!”