News

Carl Fennessy moves to LA while Mark Fennessy becomes president of Shine

Australian TV powerhouses Carl and Mark Fennessy have been given global roles with Shine Network.

Carl Fennessy will move to LA and become CEO of Shine USA.

Mark Fennessy will become president of Shine Network and remain based in Sydney with a brief to build co-production relationships in new territories.  

The two will also continue with their current responsibilities to the Australian market with additional management appointments to follow shortly.

Key Shine-owned global formats include MasterChef and The Biggest Loser. Local productions include Ten’s forthcoming home improvement blockbuster The Renovators, Nine’s new singing contest The Voice, and Australia’s Next Top Model.

The pair launched Shine in Australia a little more than a year ago after previously building Fremantle Media into a major local player.

Shine was founded in the UK a decade ago by Elisabeth Murdoch and acquired by News Corp earlier this year.

Murdoch said: “Mark and Carl have taken Shine Australia from a standing start to the market leader in barely over a year. An extraordinary achievement that is down to their respective and complementary creative and commercial skills, and the energy and drive they share. Their new, extended roles come in recognition of this and will respectively allow the Group to further benefit from these skills.”

Carl Fennessy said: “I’m delighted to take up this highly challenging position at Shine USA and acknowledge the faith and support which Liz and Shine Group have afforded me.”

Mark Fennessy said: “I’ve worked extensively with the Shine Network team on many of Shine Australia’s successful shows and look forward to doing so even more in this new role.”

 

Shine Group today announced that Shine Australia and New Zealand joint CEOs Carl
and Mark Fennessy are to assume additional group responsibilities as CEO Shine USA
and President, Shine Network respectively.
The new roles, complementary and in addition to their current Shine Australia
positions, will see the pair continuing to drive the business in Australia, where they
will be supported by an enhanced senior management team. Additional
management appointments for Shine Australia are currently being considered and
will be announced shortly.
Carl Fennessy will adopt the role of CEO Shine USA, responsible for driving the
ongoing commercial strategy of the company and reporting to CEO Shine Group
Americas Emiliano Calemzuk. Based in Shine Group America’s HQ in Los Angeles, he
will relocate later in 2011 keeping a regular presence in Sydney.
Mark Fennessy undertakes the newly created role of President, Shine Network,
working with the London based internal unit responsible for the development,
acceleration and editorial stewardship of key Shine Group formats such as
MasterChef, The Biggest Loser and One Born Every Minute. Continuing to operate
from Sydney, he will focus in particular on forging new co‐production relationships in
countries where there is currently no Shine Group presence.
Elisabeth Murdoch, Shine Group Chairman and CEO said: “Mark and Carl have taken
Shine Australia from a standing start to the market leader in barely over a year. An
extraordinary achievement that is down to their respective and complementary
creative and commercial skills, and the energy and drive they share. Their new,
extended roles come in recognition of this and will respectively allow the Group to
further benefit from these skills.”
Carl Fennessy said: “I’m delighted to take up this highly challenging position at Shine
USA and acknowledge the faith and support which Liz and Shine Group have
afforded me. I look forward to working closely with Emiliano, Eden and the U.S. team
to create exceptional content across all media platforms and to continue to build on
our success to date at Shine Australia”.
Mark Fennessy said: “I’ve worked extensively with the Shine Network team on many
of Shine Australia’s successful shows and look forward to doing so even more in this
new role.”
Emiliano Calemzuk said: “We are thrilled to welcome Carl to the US team, he is a
creative and commercial leader as the rapid success of Shine Australia is testament
to. His talents will be very suited to our market and our companies here, and I hugely
look forward to bringing him together with the team we are building here.”
Established in January 2010, Shine Australia produces both scripted and non‐scripted
programming for the Australian and New Zealand markets. These include Junior
MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, Australia’s Next Top Model, Dating in the Dark and
soon to be launched new series The Renovators (Network Ten), The Voice (Nine
Network) Wife Swap (Lifestyle) and The Family (SBS). Before Shine Australia, Mark
and Carl Fennessy were CEO and Chief Operating Officer at FremantleMedia
Australia, prior to which they successfully launched and managed independent
production company Crackerjack.
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