UTV Ireland announces Senior Executive appointments
May 12, 2014
UTV Ireland has announcd the following senior executive appointments:
· Daragh Byrne – Commercial Director
· Joanne King – Direct Sales Manager
· Paula McCarthy – Head of Sponsorship and Promotions
· David McMunn – Head of Legal and Compliance
· Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin – General Manager
· Daragh O’Halloran – Head of Research
· Rowan O’Sullivan – Head of Programme Acquisitions
· Deirdre Stokes – Head of Sales Operations
· David Townend – Head of UK Sales
John McCann, Group Chief Executive, UTV Media plc said: “I am delighted to welcome such highly experienced and talented broadcasting individuals to UTV Ireland who will complement the first class team we already have in place here in UTV as we move forward to finalise our plans to launch UTV Ireland on air on January 1, 2015.
“These appointments highlight the wealth of talent and experience now available to UTV Ireland across various business disciplines. Recruitment is going exceptionally well and we plan to announce more appointments in the coming weeks and months.”
Daragh Byrne – Commercial Director
Daragh Byrne will join the team as Commercial Director, UTV Ireland overseeing television and online sales, including agency, sponsorship and promotions and direct sales in Dublin. Daragh will work closely with Jonathan Joyce, UTV’s Sales Director, who currently manages all TV sales from Dublin for UTV’s service in Northern Ireland.
Daragh joins UTV Ireland in August from TV3 where he was Director of Sales. He has more than 17 years advertising experience with previous roles at Carat, Sunday World, Red FM and Channel 6.
Joanne King – Direct Sales Manager
Joanne King has been appointed Direct Sales Manager for UTV Ireland. Joanne has worked for 6 years in the media industry and most recently managed the Direct Sales portfolio for TV3 in Setanta Sports. She also worked with TWP Publishing and Johnston Press.
Paula McCarthy – Head of Sponsorship and Promotions
UTV Ireland’s new Head of Sponsorship and Promotions is Paula McCarthy. Paula has held the position of Head of Branded Content within the TV3 Group overseeing sponsorship and promotions, as well as developing product placement and advertiser funded programming.
David McMunn has joined the UTV Ireland management team as Head of Legal and Compliance with responsibility for managing legal and regulatory matters.
With 17 years’ experience in commercial television and technology industries, David was formerly Executive Director of TV3 with responsibility for Government, regulatory and legal affairs. Prior to that he worked with UUNET UK (now Verizon) in the UK and Brussels looking after corporate affairs and legal as well as government and regulatory affairs, advising them on law enforcement and government liaison issues throughout Europe.
Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin takes on the role of General Manager for UTV Ireland, with responsibility for managing operational and technical broadcast resources for the new channel as well as leading the development of the UTV Ireland Broadcast Centre in Dublin.
With 17 years’ experience as a media professional, Áine was the former head of production for Setanta Sports Ireland. She was previously General Manager of Sky News Ireland and has worked in various operational, production and news roles with TV3, RTE and the independent sector.
Daragh O’Halloran – Head of Research joins UTV Ireland from TV3 where he was responsible for managing research for TV3 and 3e. With 15 years’ experience of broadcasting and advertising, Daragh started his career with Media Audits analysing the efficiency of TV ad campaigns and then worked as a senior TV airtime buyer with McCann Erickson, before joining ITV plc where he spent 7 years as part of UTV’s commercial team in Dublin.
Rowan O’Sullivan has been appointed Head of Programme Acquisitions for UTV Ireland based in London.
Rowan has over 35 years’ experience in the media industry and was previously Chief Executive of Channel Television prior to its acquisition by ITV plc. He has held various senior roles in business development and compliance at leading UK broadcasters including Granada, LWT and Yorkshire Television, as well as RTE where he worked in programme acquisition and planning.
Deirdre Stokes – Head of Sales Operations
Deirdre Stokes joins UTV Ireland as Head of Sales Operations with responsibility for all sales operations including traffic and airtime management. Deirdre began her career in Irish International Advertising as a media buyer/planner before moving to Toronto, where she worked in media for ten years. On her return to Ireland in 1998, she joined TV3 and was involved in the set up of the station. Deirdre has been a Director of TAM Ireland since 2008 and has sat on various TAM committees.
David Townend – Head of UK Sales
UTV Ireland has appointed ITV as its sales agent in the UK and David Townend will take on the role of Head of UK Sales for UTV in June. With more than 18 years’ experience in the media sector David previously held the role of Head of UK Sales for TV3 and has worked at ITV in its business development team for a number of years. David will be based in London working closely with the station’s colleagues at ITV.
Mary Curtis was appointed Head of Channel, UTV Ireland last month with responsibility for overseeing all programming content and leading the Irish team in the development of the new channel across all platforms.