Warner Bros. Discovery Sets International Leadership Team

ADVERTISEMENT

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has unveiled its senior leadership team under Gerhard Zeiler, president of international.

Zeiler is responsible for the newly merged company’s businesses across more than 200 countries and territories. He held the same role at WarnerMedia, and now adds responsibility for Discovery’s international footprint. With respect to direct-to-consumer and international content distribution strategy, Zeiler and his team will have a dotted line to JB Perrette, CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and interactive entertainment.

“Our combined international business has significant scale and a diversified portfolio—both geographically and across lines of business,” Zeiler said in a memo unveiling the new international team. “As a result, when deciding the new leadership structure, we wanted to ensure that we had dedicated regional leads, to reflect the scale and complexity of the business which would, in turn, increase focus on key markets. This results in a different geographical split to the pre-merger state which will also allow each of the regional leaders to more rapidly assess opportunities for growth and efficiency and to integrate the two companies quickly.”

Priya Dogra has been tapped as president and managing director for EMEA, excluding Poland, based in London. Kasia Kieli is now president and managing director for Poland and CEO of TVN. Andrew Georgiou continues as president and managing director for WBD Sports Europe.

James Gibbons will lead Australia, New Zealand and Japan as president and managing director, with interim oversight of the Nordics, operating from London this year and relocating to Asia in 2023.

Fernando Medin has been appointed president and managing director for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, based in São Paulo, with Whit Richardson exiting.

Clement Schwebig will lead the Southeast Asian, Korean and Indian businesses as president and managing director, based in Singapore. Anil Jhingan, president and managing director for Discovery Asia Pacific, will be taking up a new position leading business development for the enlarged group across all international markets. Gillian Zhao, president of China at WarnerMedia, will continue oversight of that market, reporting to Zeiler. Tony Qiu, who currently is general manager and senior VP for Greater China and Southeast Asia and AsiaPac DTC lead for the Discovery assets will report to Zeiler regarding his Greater China and DTC role and to Schwebig for his SEA responsibilities.

Robert Blair will oversee the distribution business as president of WBD International Television Distribution. Ronald Goes continues as EVP and head of international TV production.