In taking on leadership of the new Sports Production team, Mike McQuade, a 37-year employee at ESPN, has been promoted to EVP. Most recently, Mike was the producer for Tennis (Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open), NHL, Boxing, Golf (Masters & PGA Championship), and SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt – a program he helped create. Among his many successes, Mike recently led our coverage as producer of the breaking news of the arrest of Scottie Scheffler, a great example of his ability to quickly lead a team responsible for critical content with excellence. In addition to his extensive production background, Mike is well known for his storytelling ability across platforms, innovative mindset, attention to detail and his tireless push to deliver results. He is also a leader who takes the time to mentor employees of all levels. Mike will relocate to Bristol. Details about Mike’s new team and the structure of his group can be found below.
Next, with our continued focus on expanding to reach new audiences and better prepare for our DTC future, another strong recommendation was to streamline and centralize digital, social and streaming, enabling more horizontal discussion and strategy across platforms, aligned under one leader – Kaitee Daley.
Additionally, to expand our global sports imprint, we are bringing together our International Production team and our ESPN Deportes and International Editorial teams, along with Business Operations for International, under one leader – Freddy Rolón.
Lastly, the SIG group is being divided into two functional areas – Research and ESPN Stats & Analysis. Research is a key group that supports our storytelling functions and better aligns with the News & Entertainment group, led by Maria Soares, under David Roberts. Stats & Analysis is critical to our digital strategy and will move to the newly formed Digital, Social & Streaming Content team under Kaitee Daley, specifically under Nicole Pelaez-Dandrea.
With that said, my direct reports are David Roberts, Mike McQuade, Kaitee Daley, Freddy Rolón, Brian Lockhart, Chris Calcinari and Nick Parsons.
David Roberts, EVP, Executive Editor, Sports News & Entertainment
David has done phenomenal work with our NBA and WNBA properties and studio programming, and I thank him for the amazing, steady growth of everything associated with both leagues and our daily shows. David will now transition to oversee Sports News and Entertainment, and his direct reports will be SVP Maria Soares (leading our newly centralized Sports News and Coverage, including Research and Digital Editorial), SVP Mike Foss (Sports Studio and Entertainment, including SportsCenter), and VP Chris Buckle (Investigative and Enterprise Journalism).
- Reporting to Maria Soares: VP David Kraft (Newsgathering), VP Lauren Reynolds (Digital Editorial, Universal Coverage Group), Sr. Director Kristie Blasi (Research & Bottomline), VP Jack Obringer (Wraps, Sales, Integration, Editorial Graphics Producers) and Sr. Director Stacey Pressman (Talent Producers).
- Reporting to Mike Foss: VP Pete McConville (7am SC, Get Up, First Take), newly promoted VP James Dunn (2p SC, ATH, PTI, weekend SC), VP Scott Clark (ESPN BET & Fantasy studio shows, ESPN BET Content Integration, 6p SC), VP Johann Castillo (Late Night & LA SC, SVP, Screening, RISE), VP Julie McGlone (CCU, SCEU), and newly promoted VP Justin Craig (Digital Production, Podcasts, Audio). Mike Foss will continue his role working directly with The Pat McAfee Show.
- Reporting to Chris Buckle: Sr. Deputy Editor Mike Drago (Investigative Journalism), Coordinating Producer I Rayna Banks (Production), Executive Director Scott Burton (Enterprise Journalism), newly promoted Sr. Director Eric Neel (Development) and Sr. Deputy Editor Jena Janovy (Enterprise and Investigative Journalism).