Universal Pictures International Ent., the international home entertainment division of NBC Universal, today announced key new appointments in its London-based management team.
Melanie Nicholas, until recently VP, Licensees & Emerging Markets, has been promoted to SVP, Marketing. In addition to her current responsibilities for International Licensees and Russia, she will now also lead international marketing initiatives for home entertainment outside the US. Nicholas's promotion follows the decision by Wayne Borg, Exec VP, Commercial, to relinquish his leadership role of marketing, sales and digital within UPIE in order to relocate his family back to Australia towards the end of the year.
Clare Edwards has been promoted to VP, International Licensees, responsible for all international home entertainment licensing activity, reporting to Nicholas. Edwards joined Universal in 2003 after holding both sales and licensing roles at the BBC for 10 years. She has been a key driver of the Licensee division's growth over the last four years, introducing key growth initiatives via her invaluable expertise of licensing, production knowledge and wide network of Licensee contacts.
Pancho Perez has been upped to CFO, succeeding Carlos Domenech, who is exiting the company to take up an external post in the U.S. Perez has over a decade of industry experience as CFO for Europe and, for the last 18 months, as Financial Controller for the business. He holds an MBA from ICADE and a business degree from Schiller University.
