Paramount Leadership Team Takes Shape With Execs From Redbird, NBCU

The new owners of Paramount are putting their leadership team in place in advance of the closing of the Skydance merger on Aug. 7.

Andy Gordon, who leads the West Coast office of RedBird Capital Partners, is set to take the role of chief operating officer and chief strategic officer. RedBird teamed with Skydance to acquire Paramount Global for $8.5 billion.

Gordon already works with Jeff Shell, who will be Paramount’s president and who has been at RedBird for the last two years following his exit from NBCUniversal.

Also joining Paramount will be Kevin MacLellan, who served as international chairman of NBCU until 2020. MacLellan will take a similar role at Paramount.

MacLellan worked at NBCU for two decades, and overlapped with Shell for 14 years. In the memo announcing MacLellan’s departure in 2019, Shell praised him as a “trusted friend and advisor,” noting he had overseen a staff of 2600 employees in 36 countries and advised on the acquisition of Sky.

Since then, MacLellan has been working on a real estate investment company focused on Durham, N.C., as he waited out his NBCU non-compete.

Jim Sterner, the VP of human resources at Amazon Entertainment in Culver City, will join Paramount as head of HR. Sterner has been with Amazon for 16 years, including stints in London and Seattle.

The executive team is expected to be announced on Monday.

Several other executive moves have already been reported. Cindy Holland, the former head of TV at Netflix, will oversee Paramount’s streaming offerings — Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Josh Greenstein is leaving his job as co-president of the Motion Picture Group at Sony to take a senior role at Paramount, though his precise title has yet to be reported.

David Ellison, the founder of Skydance, will become chairman and CEO of Paramount.