Univision has tapped former Comedy Central International global production and development chief Lourdes Dias as president of the Univision Entertainment division.
Diaz started in her new Los Angeles-based role on Nov. 1, reporting to Univision chief news, entertainment and digital officer Isaac Lee. The Miami native was responsible for commissioning all scripted and non-scripted productions at Comedy Central International and was the executive producer of such international scripted series as I Live with Models, Brotherhood, Medics and Wasteman.
Adrian Santucho has also joined the programmer as Miami-based executive vice president of Univision Studios, reporting to Diaz. Santucho was most recently CEO of FremantleMedia Latin America, a global content company that creates such competition series as Univision’s La Banda and 100 Lations Dijeron, the Family Feud adaptation airing on soon-to-close network MundoMax (and predecessor MundoFox).
“With over 20 years of experience, Lourdes has a proven track record of curating fresh and exciting new programming that attracts diverse audiences,” Lee said in statement. “At the same time, Adrian’s extensive experience in development, direction and production will be extremely valuable as we look to further strengthen our in-house production capabilities and develop new multi-genre content and original productions through Univision Studios. Together, the two have deep industry insights and are the ideal executives for these critical roles. We’re pleased to have Lourdes and Adrian as part of the team.”
Before joining Comedy Central, Diaz had been vice president of primetime Programming for NBCUniversal Media, overseeing comedy and drama series. She began her career in 1993 as a motion picture agent for ICM.
Prior to joining FremantleMedia in 2013, Santucho spent more than a decade with reality TV programming innovator Endemol, serving in various senior production and development roles for Endemol USA Latino, Endemol Mexico and Endemol Argentina.
