In a reshuffling, Bela Bajaria has been elevated to president of Universal TV, while Tracey Pakosta is taking over for Vernon Sanders as executive VP of comedy programming at NBC, the company confirmed.
After a year at the helm of its comedy programming, Sanders returns to his role at NBC as head of current programming, including both comedy and drama. Pearlena Igbokwe, who also last year became executive VP of drama programming, will return to focus on drama development.
Bajaria had been serving as executive VP of Universal TV since joining the company in 2011. Pakosta was previously head of comedy development at Universal TV.
“Bela has done an incredible job of starting a studio from scratch three years ago and launching a series of hits on programming services ranging from NBC and FOX to A&E and Netflix,” said Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment.
“We’re very happy that Bela is going to continue to run the studio at a time when the demand for American television shows keeps growing in this country and around the world," said Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment. "Furthermore, Tracey Pakosta is a superb comedy executive with many years of experience and we’re thrilled to have her come to NBC. This will position NBC very strongly in the comedy business moving forward, which is a major goal for us.”
