Industry Veteran Charlie Collier Joins
Company as President, Roku Media
Mustafa Ozgen Named President,
Devices
Gidon Katz Named President, Consumer
Experience
Today, Roku, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU) announced that three senior
executives have been named as presidents of the company’s media,
devices, and consumer experience business areas.
Media industry veteran Charlie Collier will be joining Roku as
President, Roku Media, effective in late October, based in New
York. Under Collier’s leadership, Roku Media will reinforce Roku’s
commitment to serving advertisers, content partners, and consumers
across Roku’s market-leading streaming platform.
In addition, Mustafa Ozgen and Gidon Katz are being elevated
from their current senior vice president roles at Roku. Ozgen will
now serve as President, Devices, and Katz will now serve as
President, Consumer Experience. Collier, Ozgen, and Katz will
report to Anthony Wood, Roku Founder and CEO.
“As Roku grows internationally, these positions will help bring
more focus to key areas of our business as the global shift to
streaming continues,” said Anthony Wood, Founder and CEO, Roku.
“Charlie, Mustafa, and Gidon bring extensive industry knowledge and
leadership experience to Roku. I look forward to working with them
and their teams as we continue to innovate and build our position
as the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico*
and our overall global footprint.”
In his new role, Collier will oversee the growth and evolution
of Roku Media globally, which includes ad sales and Roku’s ad
platform business as well as content for Roku’s owned and operated
channels, including The Roku Channel.
Collier brings over 25 years of experience in media business
leadership and transformation. He currently serves as the CEO of
FOX Entertainment Group, where he is responsible for driving the
overall vision and business at FOX Entertainment. He oversees the
FOX network, FOX Alternative Entertainment, and FOX Entertainment
Studios. He also has helped lead several other business
transformation initiatives, notably the acquisition of AVOD
streaming service Tubi TV, the founding of Studio Ramsay Global,
the launch of Blockchain Creative Labs, and the acquisitions of
Bento Box Entertainment, the animation company behind “Bob’s
Burgers,” and indie studio MarVista Entertainment. Previously, he
held senior roles at AMC Network, Court TV, Oxygen, and A&E
Networks. During his tenure at FOX and AMC, both networks
experienced increases in key business metrics, including ad revenue
and ratings, Emmy Award-winning programming, and expansion of their
digital platforms.
Alison Levin, Vice President, Ad Revenue and Marketing
Solutions; Louqman Parampath, Vice President, Ad Product; Mirjam
Laux, Vice President, International Advertising and Content; and
Rob Holmes, Vice President, Programming will report to Collier.
Collier will also collaborate on commercial strategy with Tedd
Cittadine, Vice President, Content Partnerships, who continues to
lead Roku’s relationships with third-party apps and streaming
services, and Gil Fuchsberg, Senior Vice President, Corporate
Development & Strategic Partnerships, to whom Cittadine will
continue to report.
“There is a tremendous opportunity to further accelerate and
evolve Roku’s business as the streaming platform built for
advertising, and Charlie is the ideal person to help us capitalize
on the moment,” said Wood. “He is a proven leader who brings vast
experience, a history of evolving businesses, strong creative
instincts, talent relationships, and a track record of driving
revenue and growth. He will play an integral role in helping us
achieve even greater success as a next-generation media
company.”
“Roku is a pioneer in streaming television and has achieved
scale and significant relationships with our partners that will
continue to be unique and valuable at this pivotal time in the
industry,” said Collier. “As a partner of Roku, I’ve seen firsthand
the power and potential the platform provides advertisers,
partners, content creators, and consumers. I’m eager to work with
Roku’s talented team to continue to innovate, grow, and bring the
company and its partners to the next level.”
Prior to joining FOX, Collier was President and General Manager
of AMC, SundanceTV, and AMC Studios, overseeing the creative and
business operations of all three divisions. While he was at AMC,
the network and business transformed, growing all key metrics and
scoring creatively with hits including the Emmy Award-winning "Mad
Men," "Breaking Bad," and "The Walking Dead." Collier also held
business and sales roles at Oxygen Media, A+E Networks, and
TeleRep. Since 2019, Collier has been named to The Hollywood
Reporter 100, the publication’s list of the most powerful people in
entertainment. He is regularly featured in Variety’s edition of
Variety500, an index of the 500 most influential business leaders
shaping the global media industry.
Gidon Katz, President, Consumer Experience, who joined Roku in
2022 as senior vice president of Consumer, leads Roku’s Consumer
Experience team, overseeing product, customer journeys, editorial,
customer marketing, payments, and merchandising. Prior to joining
Roku, he was President of Direct to Consumer for NBCU, launching
Peacock in the U.S. Before moving to the U.S., Gidon led Sky’s
streaming service Now for six years, having previously launched
Virgin Media’s VOD service.
Mustafa Ozgen, President, Devices, joined Roku in February 2019
as senior vice president and general manager of account
acquisition, overseeing key programs like Roku TV, Roku Players,
Roku Ready Soundbars, and more. Ozgen joined Roku from SmartKem, a
producer of semiconductors used in flexible displays, where he
served as CEO. Previously, he served as CEO of QD Vision, a
nanotechnology materials company, which was acquired by Samsung.
Earlier in his career, Ozgen held senior management and engineering
roles at Sigma Designs, CSR, Zoran, Oak Technology, TeraLogic, and
WindRiver Systems. He also served for seven years as an officer in
the Turkish Navy.
About Roku, Inc.
Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. We connect users to the
streaming content they love, enable content publishers to build and
monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique
capabilities to engage consumers. Roku streaming players and
TV-related audio devices are available in the U.S. and in select
countries through direct retail sales and licensing arrangements
with service operators. Roku TV™ models are available in the U.S.
and in select countries through licensing arrangements with TV OEM
brands. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. U.S.A.
* By hours streamed. Hypothesis Group, Oct 2021.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that
are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information
currently available to us on the date of this press release.
Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
performance, or achievements to be materially different from those
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These
statements include but are not limited to those related to the
shift of TV and TV advertising to streaming and our leadership
position in that shift, our key strategic areas of our business,
changes in our executive leadership team, our international
expansion, and our overall business trajectory. Except as required
by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could
differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking
statements, even if new information becomes available in the
future. Important factors that could cause our actual results to
differ materially are detailed from time to time in the reports
Roku, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2021 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended June 30, 2022. Copies of reports filed with the SEC
are posted on Roku’s website and are available from Roku without
charge.
Roku is a registered trademark and Roku TV is a trademark of
Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Trade names,
trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this
press release are the property of their respective holders.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220922005883/en/
Kelli Raftery VP, Global Communications kraftery@roku.com
Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)
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