Jana Winograde is joining Showtime for the newly created position of president of business operations, West Coast. She will oversee the network’s production, program operations and business affairs teams and lead the financial and business strategy relating to the acquisition, development and distribution of content.
Winograde comes on board in mid-August and will report to David Nevins, president and CEO of Showtime Networks.
She comes from ABC Entertainment, where she spent 23 years in numerous senior roles, most recently as executive VP, head of business operations.
“Jana is a tremendous addition to our leadership team, bringing an impeccable reputation as one of the industry’s most thoughtful business executives and dealmakers,” Nevins said. “She is perfectly suited to help broaden the ongoing evolution of Showtime–from its roots in domestic premium cable into a dynamic, global content company, with revenue sources across a broad array of worldwide platforms.”
Elsewhere in the company, Steve Rogers has been promoted to executive VP, business affairs, succeeding Melinda Benedek upon her retirement at the end of this year. Rogers will be the company’s chief negotiator for original productions and manage the business affairs team on the West Coast, in support of series, limited series and documentaries, as well as licensed original programming.
"Steve possesses a wealth of experience, strong relationships within the industry and a deep knowledge of the intricacies that must be navigated to bring deals from theory to reality in our competitive marketplace,” said Nevins.
Rogers previously was senior VP, business affairs at Showtime, responsible for negotiating studio, talent and producer deals along with program licensing agreements for a number of the network’s prominent original series.
Prior to joining Showtime in 1996, Rogers worked for the theatrical business affairs department at MGM/UA.
