Jimmy Pitaro Sets ESPN Exec Team: Burke Magnus to Oversee Content, Rosalyn Durant Joins to Lead Rights Talks

Alex Weprin
·1 min read

With ESPN now its own division within The Walt Disney Co., ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro is restructuring his senior leadership team.

Among the changes: Burke Magnus, a 28-year veteran of ESPN who was most recently president of programming and original content will now be president of content, overseeing ESPN’s studio shows, newsgathering and journalism, live events, talent, audio, social media, digital, and films.

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“He is a strong relationship builder, both internally across Disney, and externally with our league partners, and will bring valuable institutional and industry knowledge to his new role as he builds upon our history of developing unparalleled storytelling across platforms.,” Pitaro wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday.

Pitaro also announced that Rosalyn Durant will join ESPN as executive vp of programming and acquisitions, overseeing rights negotiations, ESPN+, and ESPN International, among other ventures. Durant is an ESPN veteran, but was most recently at Disney’s parks and experiences division, where she ran Disney Springs, the water parks, and the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

“Rosalyn’s leadership skills and strategic dealmaking experience will benefit ESPN, especially as the market for live sports rights remains extremely competitive,” Pitaro wrote.

Pitaro also announced additional responsibilities for Tina Thornton, who will lead content production and operations, and Laura Gentile, who will lead marketing for ESPN.

With ESPN now its own division within Disney, it means some top execs will be taking on new responsibilities that previously had fallen elsewhere within the company.

Read Pitaro’s memo, below.

Team,

I’m excited about the possibilities for how we transform our business and work together in new ways. For ESPN, that means responsibly and efficiently managing a larger, more complex, multi-platform organization with a global scope, and we have been giving a lot of thought as to the best and most effective way to approach these expanded responsibilities. Now is the perfect time to bring new perspectives to elements of our operation while also driving responsibility deeper into our organization. To that end, today we are announcing the following changes: 

Burke Magnus, previously President, Programming & Original Content, will now lead the newly formed Content organization as President, Content, with oversight of studio shows, live events, newsgathering, investigative journalism, original content/ESPN Films, the Talent Office, audio, digital, and social media. Effective immediately, Stephanie Druley, David Roberts, Norby Williamson, Brian Lockhart and Kaitee Daley will all report to Burke. Burke is a 28-year ESPN veteran and his impact at our organization cannot be overstated. He has led teams responsible for some of the most important and impactful content at ESPN, both licensed and developed. He is a strong relationship builder, both internally across Disney, and externally with our league partners, and will bring valuable institutional and industry knowledge to his new role as he builds upon our history of developing unparalleled storytelling across platforms. 

Rosalyn Durant will return to ESPN as EVP, Programming & Acquisitions, joining us from DPEP where she was SVP of Disney Springs, Water Parks, and ESPN Wide World of Sports since early 2020. In addition to Programming and rights acquisitions, ESPN+ and ESPN International will be a part of Rosalyn’s responsibilities, as will Andscape and espnW. Rosalyn has a long list of accomplishments in her 24-year Disney and ESPN career. While at the parks, she played a critical role helping to restart the NBA season in the “Bubble” at ESPN Wide World of Sports during the pandemic. At ESPN, she most recently served as SVP of College Networks, overseeing ESPNU, SEC Network and Longhorn Network, and was a central member of the cross-functional leadership team that successfully launched the ACC Network. Rosalyn’s leadership skills and strategic dealmaking experience will benefit ESPN, especially as the market for live sports rights remains extremely competitive. She will relocate to Bristol and split her time between Bristol and Charlotte.

There will be a period of transition for both Burke and Rosalyn. Burke will continue to be involved in certain negotiations during this transition period while Rosalyn wraps up her work with DPEP. 

Tina Thornton, Head of Content Operations & Creative Surround, will expand her current responsibilities to now oversee our Production Operations group, which is moving back to ESPN.

As part of this move, the Synergy team will move from Tina’s organization to the Marketing team under Laura Gentile. Laura will now oversee all aspects of ESPN Marketing, including ESPN+ and social marketing.

Burke, Rosalyn, Tina, and Laura will report to me, as will Mark Walker, Head of Sports Business Development & Innovation, Rob King, Executive Editor-In-Chief, Special Projects, and Chara-Lynn Aguiar, SVP, ESPN Strategy & Office of the Chairman. Legal, HR, Communications and Finance will continue to report to both corporate and to me at this time, and, as mentioned previously, Technology, Affiliate Sales, Ad Sales, and our international leads will report to me, Dana Walden, and Alan Bergman. 

We know that transition can be hard, especially after undergoing so much change over the last few years. We have the team, expertise, and structure in place to continue to build ESPN, and your leadership team is excited and confident about our future. 

Now more than ever, I like our hand.

Jimmy

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