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FME appoints new Asia-Pacific chief

Press release from FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) – the commercial and brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, has appointed Paul Ridley as EVP, Asia Pacific to further drive the company’s acquisition strategy throughout the region.

The appointment was announced today by David Ellender, Global CEO of FME who’s spearheading the company’s global strategy to add more IP content to their portfolio and to expand their network of producers and production companies working within the FME family. The news follows the recent appointment of Jon Penn to CEO, Asia Pacific.

Ridley’s promotion means his current role managing television sales across the Asia Pacific region will expand to include acquisitions and development responsibilities, as well as home entertainment sales in Asia. He will report directly to Ellender on the acquisitions side of the business and Penn on the rest of the business in the region.

 “Paul has been a tremendous asset to the sales team across the Asia Pacific market. His knowledge of the region and his network of contacts means he is ideally placed to be part of the FME drive to grow our catalogue of content and network of partners around the world,” commented Ellender.

Ridley said, “The Asia Pacific region is home to some of the best producers and content professionals in the world and in addition to my ongoing sales role, I’m looking forward to driving our portfolio of IP and third party relationships in the region.”

The Asia Pacific team is undergoing other minor changes in keeping with the company’s approach of having a global network with local execution across their core disciplines of distribution, licensing and home entertainment.  Ganesh Rajaram, VP Sales for Asia, will now take on home entertainment sales and have an increased focus on acquisitions and development, continuing to report to Ridley.  Amrita Sindhu, VP FME Licensing and Home Entertainment in Asia, will now focus solely on licensing given the potential in the region and a key growth area for FME, and will report to Penn.

Prior to his new role, Ridley was Senior Vice President Sales, Asia Pacific for FME, where he managed sales and distribution of titles including The Adventures of Merlin, American Idol, the Jamie Oliver catalogue of programmes, and Australian dramas The Strip and Satisfaction. The latter is going into production on series three and has sold to over 70 countries to date and Ridley was pivotal in developing the relationship with Showtime to secure the title. He was also involved in brokering FME’s partnership with the MDA of Singapore, along with Rajaram, to develop various multi-media TV projects by Singapore-based producers. Paul joined FME in 2002 as VP, Sales for Australia and New Zealand.

Ridley’s promotion comes as FremantleMedia continues its overall investment into the future of the business and talent through various appointments.  FremantleMedia Australia, the production arm in the region announced the appointment of Ian Hogg as CEO last week, and FME will shortly announce the Regional CEO appointment for EMEA.

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