SPMB Recruits Global Chief Technology Officer for Disney Streaming
April 12, 2022 – SPMB, an executive search firm that helps find transformative executives throughout Silicon Valley, has assisted in placing YouTube and Google vice president Jeremy Doig as global chief technology officer of Disney Streaming. He will lead the technology organization and global technology strategy for The Walt Disney Co.’s portfolio of direct-to-consumer streaming services. SPMB managing partner Mike Doonan and client partner Radley Meyers spearheaded the assignment.
Mr. Doig, a 30-year veteran in online media, brings to the team deep technical experience architecting and implementing global technology visions at global scale and will play a key role in propelling the next phase of technical innovation and growth for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+. He will report directly to Michael Paull, president, Disney Streaming. “SPMB managing partner Mike Doonan and partner Radley Meyers had the privilege of bringing this team together — and look forward to what’s in store for Disney under Jeremy’s leadership,” said the search firm in a statement. “On behalf of Mike, Radley, and SPMB Executive Search, congratulations to our long-time client Disney on what’s now our 19th search together! Here’s to a fantastic outcome and another world-class addition to Disney’s executive team.”
Strong Experience
Mr. Doig will join Disney Streaming next month after 18 years at Google where he pioneered new standards for online media – spanning novel compression approaches for audio and video, streaming protocols for real-time and on-demand delivery, and spatial experiences. His career has centered around driving innovation in online media technology, and includes technology roles at the BBC, The Multimedia Corp. (A BBC Interactive Television Unit spinout), Online Magic (an early internet website and E-commerce pioneer), Microsoft, and most recently at Google, creating the video technologies that power YouTube and Chrome.
“Jeremy is a true visionary that has sat at the forefront of making online video streaming possible in his nearly 30-year career at the intersection of technology and media, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the Disney Streaming leadership team,” said Mr. Paull. “We have an exceptional team of global technologists, and Jeremy’s experience leading transformational initiatives in complex and dynamic environments will make him an incredible asset to lead this world-class group.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining The Walt Disney Company at this crucial moment in the entertainment industry,” said Mr. Doig. “The proliferation of streaming services in the market has reached new peaks and there are so many opportunities for technology to push boundaries and create stunning new viewer experiences for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+ subscribers. Disney’s powerful brands, content, and talent are unmatched and I’m excited to get to work straight away on this incredible adventure.”
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New York City-based Disney Streaming is a business unit within Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), which delivers the company’s storytelling to audiences worldwide across theatrical, streaming, and linear platforms. Under the leadership of chairman Kareem Daniel, DMED is responsible for the monetization of content from the company’s content engines — studios, general entertainment, and sports. This includes P&L management and operations of the company’s portfolio of streaming services, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+; its linear television channels the ABC-owned stations; theatrical film distribution; content licensing and distribution; and global advertising sales.
Achieving Scale
For over 40 years, SPMB has worked alongside its clients to build executive teams that ensure venture capital and private equity-backed game-changers achieve scale, and position multi-billion-dollar public companies to unlock innovation.
Specializing in technology and innovation, SPMB recruits upper management and board members to growth-oriented companies in tech, consumer, and sustainability industries. SPMB has also placed dozens of senior executives at the portfolio companies of leading private equity firm partners including Blackstone, KKR, and TPG.
Mr. Doonan leads SPMB’s digital transformation and data practice and has successfully executed over 350 C-level and VP searches across all market verticals. Over the past 2 decades, he has earned a reputation as a strategic partner and leadership architect, helping his clients build executive teams that bridge the gap between innovation and scale. Mr. Doonan enables innovative pure-play technology companies such as Google/Cloud and Amazon/AWS to achieve scale by recruiting senior leaders that have been through large, complex growth scenarios. He also works closely with large incumbents such as Disney Streaming, Comcast, Capital One, and Under Armour to evolve their technology, IT, product, data, security and digital capabilities.
Mr. Meyers works with a variety of leading technology and tech-enabled-services companies, placing senior-level executives at venture capital-funded, private equity-backed, and publicly traded companies. Mr. Meyers brings extensive knowledge and expertise to SPMB’s security and data-related search work, a key area for the firm. He leads both functional searches (CISO, CDO, and VP’s defining security and data strategy), and also builds out executive teams at top security software and data companies.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
