Patricia Betron, Wendell Scott and Lisa Valentino Expand Leadership Roles

ESPN announces several changes to the Customer Marketing and Sales group, led by Ed Erhardt, president, Global Customer Marketing and Sales. 

 Patricia Betron, Wendell Scott and Lisa Valentino will serve as senior vice presidents, Multimedia Sales.  All three will continue to report to Eric Johnson, executive vice president, multimedia sales and lead their teams to develop new and incremental business by selling multimedia programs across all ESPN-branded entities.  In addition to managing day-to-day business, they will lead sales strategies and drive excellence across the organization.

Said Johnson, “As our business continues to evolve, we strive to stay nimble, aligned and ahead of the marketplace.  Tricia, Wendell and Lisa are proven leaders and uniquely capable to ensure our success now and in the future.”

These moves streamline Johnson’s direct reports and increase responsibilities of all three newly promoted SVPs.  Specifics and background on each follow:

• Betron oversees ESPN’s multimedia sales teams Detroit and has added oversight of the Chicago office as well.  She is responsible for co-leading ESPN CMS’s Sales Communications team, where she provides strategic direction and liaisons with ESPN Research to develop external positioning to clients.  She joined the company in 1999 after previous roles across ABC and is a graduate of Syracuse University.
• As part of his new role, Scott will oversee ESPN multimedia sales teams in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He also spearheads the company’s multicultural sales efforts and manages sales for ESPN’s syndication and event properties.  He joined the company as an Account Executive in 2000 after seven years at BBDO in Media Planning.  Scott graduated from Northeastern University.
• Valentino has oversight of ESPN’s print and digital sales, including espnW and programmatic buying, as well as strategic sales efforts for Global X Games and ESPN’s International digital properties.  She will manage multimedia sales teams in New York and Atlanta. Valentino joined the company from Yahoo! in 2006, where she was a sales director at Yahoo! Sports sales and is a graduate of Lafayette College. 

Moving forward, Johnson will oversee ad sales for ESPN’s international properties as well. 

Additional promotions as part of this realignment included Greg Rossi, promoted to VP, Multimedia Sales; Jennifer Hoffnagle, promoted to Vice President, Multimedia Sales; Danielle Brown, promoted to Director, Multimedia Sales; and Sal Talluto, promoted to Director, Multimedia Sales.