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WarnerMedia EMEA Announces UK & Ireland Leadership Team

London, November 17, 2020 – Polly Cochrane, recently named as Country Manager for WarnerMedia UK & Ireland, today announced her leadership team, bringing together a team of seasoned executives in Alison Morris, Neil Marshall, Rachel Wakley, Alex Lewis, Allan Stenhouse and Charlie Cubbon.

The appointments follow John Stanley’s decision to leave the company next year after 14 years at the helm of Warner Bros.’ home entertainment operation in UK, Ireland, Spain and Nordics. He will step down from his day-to-day management responsibilities at the end of this month and will stay on until the end of June 2021 on a series of transition projects.

Alison Morris, who currently oversees the distribution of Warner Bros., Turner, HBO, and HBO Max content, will now lead a newly formed TV & Digital Distribution group which also includes Home Video Digital Distribution. She will also integrate Turner Affiliate & Ad Sales into this combined team, working closely with respective leaders Riccardo Donato and Andrew Mallandaine.

Neil Marshall will continue to lead Theatrical Film Distribution, and now also takes on Local Film Production, supported by Patrick Strafford, as well as assuming oversight for all operations in Ireland.

Rachel Wakley, who currently oversees Consumer Products & Experiences, will expand her remit to encompass Physical Video and Physical & Digital Games sales, bringing the company’s entire physical business across all retail and e-commerce channels under her purview.

Alex Lewis will continue to lead Film & Games Marketing. Lewis recently added Digital & Data Strategy and Media & Brand Partnerships as well as Games to her remit and will now oversee the marketing of film catalogue in addition to her existing responsibilities for new release film.

Allan Stenhouse will continue to lead TV Marketing, having recently taken on Turner and HBO Home Video marketing and TV distribution support in addition to the Warner Bros. content he continues to manage. 

Lewis and Stenhouse will continue to jointly oversee Creative Services and Franchise Management for the UK & Ireland.

Charlie Cubbon will lead on Commercial Development for the UK & Ireland region, and will also oversee a newly formed central Commercial Planning team as well as the long-term strategy on Games. He will continue to oversee Supply Chain. 

Polly Cochrane commented: “I am excited to bring together such an outstanding group of executives each of whom is testament to the great talent we have within the company.  As we integrate the commercial and group marketing activities of our Warner Bros. businesses and our entertainment networks, we will benefit from their passion for our product, astute thinking and proven desire to push new boundaries.”

Cochrane added: “We are sad to see John leave WarnerMedia after so many years of exceptional service but are pleased and grateful he has agreed to stay on until the end  of June next year to help us transition our home video integration efforts.”

 

About the WM UK & Ireland Leadership Team

Alison Morris joined Warner Bros. in 2007 as sales director for the UK and Ireland, becoming SVP of sales in 2016. Before this, she worked at BBC Worldwide on its on-demand service and precursor to BBC iPlayer, at BT as head of acquisitions for their on-demand service, and at Channel 4 heading up their broadband distribution team.

Neil Marshall joined Warner Bros. as UK sales director in 2006, overseeing its UK theatrical sales team and its associated technical operations, and became SVP Theatrical Distribution in 2017. Before this, he was sales director at Pathé Distribution for six years, and previously spent 11 years in sales and distribution at Sony.

Rachel Wakley joined Warner Bros. in 2017 to lead the consumer products team for the UK and Ireland. Prior to this she worked at Tesco as their Head of Brand Licensing, having previously held roles at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Activision Blizzard, and Upper Deck International.

Alex Lewis joined Warner Bros.  in 2012 to oversee theatrical film marketing. Since then her remit has expanded to include home entertainment, games, and franchise management. She joined from Newscorp where, as Marketing Director for The Times & Sunday Times, she was responsible for the launch of the two titles behind the digital ‘pay wall’. Prior to that she was Director of Marketing & Comms for Sky, overseeing all the entertainment channels, including Sky1, Sky Movies and Sky Arts.

Allan Stenhouse joined the Warner Bros. marketing team in 2008 responsible for marketing TV content across broadcast, home video and digital, as well as leading Warner Bros.’ franchise management effort across divisions. Prior to Warner Bros., he was Marketing Director for UK, Ireland and Nordics at the Disney Channel Group for 10 years where he led the marketing effort for Fox Kids, Jetix and Disney XD. He has also held marketing and communications positions at Bloomsbury Publishing, Dillons the Bookstore and Barnes & Noble.

Charlie Cubbon is a qualified Chartered Accountant with experience working in several commercial roles across the organisation in his 22 years at Warner Bros. Most recently serving as VP UK Finance and Supply Chain, he led both the Commercial and Statutory Finance teams, along with UK supply chain.

 

About WarnerMedia
WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others. The organization also includes Xandr’s suite of advanced advertising solutions designed to help to improve advertising for brands, publishers, and consumers.

Contact
Claudia Coles, Claudia.Coles@turner.com, +447785 725 705