TIME CEO Jessica Sibley sent the following note to staff on Monday:
Team,
Today, I am pleased to announce several promotions and role expansions across TIME Studios, a division that has demonstrated tremendous growth, generating more than $100M in revenue in its first three years. To position the division for continued success, the following individuals are taking on expanded leadership roles reporting into me, effective immediately:
- Michael Erlinger: Head of Business Affairs and Operations, TIME Studios. Michael has deep ties to TIME as part of the team who founded Time Inc. Productions in 2016. At TIME Studios, Michael has overseen all deal making and has managed the business and legal aspects for all of the company’s original productions and project finance investments. His newly added responsibilities include studio operations and finances.
- Loren Hammonds: Head of Documentary, TIME Studios. Since joining TIME Studios in 2021, Loren has worked on Katrina Babies (HBO Max), The Lionheart (HBO Sports Documentaries), Ayenda (MSNBC) and more as an executive producer. Most recently, his work with Meta on the MLK: Now Is The Time VR experience and Nat Geo’s The Territory has earned TIME Studios 2 Emmy nominations in 2023.
- Jeff Smith: Head of Formats & Specials, TIME Studios and Executive Producer, TIME Events. Jeff will continue to specialize in producing award-winning formats and globally-scaled live events for TIME and TIME Studios. Since joining TIME, he has led the productions of TIME100, TIME Women of the Year, TIME Person of the Year, TIME Kid of the Year and more. Under Jeff’s direction, the 2023 TIME100 primetime special on ABC was the most-watched TV program in the country in its time slot, with all-time high ratings.
- Rebecca Gitlitz: Director and Executive Producer, TIME Studios. In the last year, Rebecca has directed several TIME Studios’ projects, including Split Screen and When Truth Isn’t Truth: The Rudy Giuliani Story, which aired on MSNBC. Rebecca is currently directing the highly-anticipated U.S. Women’s World Cup docuseries, debuting this fall on Netflix.
In addition:
- Maria Perez-Brown: Head of Kids & Family, TIME Studios. Maria continues to oversee all development and production of TIME Studios Kids & Family programming. She collaborates regularly with the TIME for Kids team to translate the brand’s power and reach.
- Kaveh Veyssi: Head of Scripted Film & TV, TIME Studios. Kaveh oversees all of TIME Studios’ scripted development, including Russ and Daughters and Making an Exoneree. He has recently joined TIME Studios from Sugar23 where he was the point person for the prior TIME Studios-Sugar 23 collaborations and was instrumental in the launch of TIME Studios’ scripted division.
- Sara Krupnick: Head of Production, TIME Studios. Since joining TIME Studios in 2022, Sara has been managing the production of many TIME Studios projects, including budgeting, scheduling and logistics, and is continuing to expand and grow in this important role.
- Sara Loubriel: VP, Business Affairs/Head of Legal, TIME Studios. Sara is a longstanding key member of the TIME Studios team successfully navigating its productions through many complex business and legal matters. Her responsibilities are expanding to include oversight of all studio legal affairs.
Alongside these changes, Mike Beck and Alexa Conway have decided to leave TIME Studios to pursue new career opportunities. We thank them both for all of their contributions to TIME. As core members of the TIME Studios leadership team from the beginning, they have had a hand in everything that TIME Studios has accomplished over the years. In many ways they have also been the day-to-day heart and soul of TIME Studios, establishing a culture of teamwork and collegiality that we value and will continue going forward.
Former Co-Head of Documentary Ali Johnes will be shifting to a new role as an independent producer under a first-look deal with TIME Studios. We’re excited to have the chance to partner with Ali on many exciting projects in the years to come.
As a reflection of our commitment to and continued investment in TIME Studios, we have retained Rich Battista, a 30-year veteran of the entertainment and media industry who previously led Time Inc. as CEO and served as CEO of Imagine Entertainment, as a Strategic Advisor to TIME Studios and to me as CEO of TIME. We have also retained Heidrick & Struggles to spearhead the search for a new CEO, TIME Studios to complement and lead our team. Finally, TIME Studios will continue its longstanding relationship with CAA as its agency representative.
I look forward to continuing to partner with this team to build TIME Studios’ momentum, which will play a crucial part in our progress on our TIME 3.0 journey, and mission of creating storytelling that moves the world. Please join me in congratulating this team on their well deserved promotions and wishing the best to Mike and Alexa on their next chapters.
Best,
Jess
