Comings & Goings

Dylan Jones

Dylan Jones has joined Scripps Networks Interactive as svp of corporate communications. He reports to Mark Kroeger, SNI’s evp and chief communications officer. Jones most recently led his own communications consulting business, specializing in brand positioning, corporate strategy, marketing and communications campaigns for clients in media, tech and advertising. Prior to that, he worked at EMI Music Publishing as the head of corporate communications and member of the global senior management team. He also served as head of music and public relations at Music Choice Europe and led consumer and trade publications at MTV and VH1 in London. During his free time, Dylan chases after his four-year-old daughter (pictured above), enjoys writing and blogging, cooking and scouting new restaurants with his wife, and is a diehard Manchester United fan. Check out pics in our new Diversion section.

Alexandra Jewett

Independent media company Debmar-Mercury has upped Alexandra Jewett to evp of programming. Alongside her colleague Lonnie Burstein, the evp of programming, she’ll oversee programming, development and production. Jewett joined the company in September 2010 and has helped expand its talk and game show portfolios. Before that, she was vp of programming and development, East Coast, for CBS Television Distribution. Other roles include creator and executive producer of TLC’s “Operation Homecoming” and Discovery Health Network’s “Rebuilt: The Human Body Shop.” She also executive produced “The John Walsh Show” for NBCU, was evp of All American Communications/Orbis Entertainment and an executive producer for Multimedia Entertainment. Alexandra says she loves to travel and has been to most parts of the globe. She’s a skier, a tennis player and a hiker. Other fun facts: She’s the mother of three millennials, a lifelong dachshund owner and—most importantly—will never voluntarily swim with sharks.

Oxygen Media has promoted three executives. Teri Kennedy is now svp, current production, Stephanie Steele is vp, current production and Christine Cowan was upped to vp, talent development. Additionally, Matt Shanfield was hired as vp, development, and Jean Shi as senior director, development.

Teri Kennedy

Kennedy now oversees all current series under Oxygen’s “very real” rebrand, including “Sisterhood of Hip Hop,” “Nail’d It,” “My Crazy Love,” “Street Art Throwdown,” “Living Different” and “Fix My Choir.” She joined the company in 2011 as vp of current programming. She has more than two decades of production experience in non-scripted and reality-based programming. Teri confesses that she secretly loves to pack school lunches.

Stephanie Steele

Stephanie Steele’s new role entails oversight of upcoming programming including new series “Fix My Choir,” “Street Art Throwdown,” “Living Different” and “After Happily Ever After.” She joined the network in 2010 as director, current programming after working as a producer on shows such as “The Next Food Network Star,” “Movies 101” on AMC and other series on A&E and MTV. Stephanie hasn’t always worked behind the camera. She was an extra in the movie Heat, where she played the waitress who took Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino’s order. She has traveled the entire country of Norway–from the southern tip to north of the Arctic Circle–tracking down her ancestors.

Christine Cowan

Christine Cowan still leads Oxygen’s talent department as the liaison between production, ad sales, marketing, digital and communications for current series and development projects. She joined the company in 2012 as director, talent development and before that she held talent and casting positions at MTV and Specific Media/MySpace. Christine impressed us with the fact that she can recite every word of “Ice, Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice and “Juicy” by Biggie. She also had a pet turtle growing up, but it ran away. We’re not sure how that happened.

Matt Shanfield, Jean Shi

Matt Shanfield and Jean Shi together will develop original concepts, formats and new talent. Shanfield comes from Irwin Entertainment, where he was vp of development at Irwin Entertainment. Prior to that, he was director of development at Shed Media US and worked in development for Mark Burnett Productions. Fascinating fact from Matt: “I competed on an episode of Nickelodeon’s ‘Family Double Dare’ in Orlando but we ultimately lost the grand prize because my Dad couldn’t find the flag in the giant nose during the Slopstacle Course physical challenge.” Also, he owns a six-foot-tall, life-size Walker Texas Ranger Chuck Norris cardboard cutout.

Shi previously served as vp of development and co-executive producer for GRB Entertainment. Before GRB, she was director of development for Lion Television and served as a producer on series for Fox, Discovery, Bravo, Travel Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, MTV, CMT, HGTV and others.

Katie Lanegran

Katie Lanegran has joined El Rey Network as vp of public relations. She comes from SundanceTV where she worked for 15 years, most recently as vp of public relations. She’ll lead communications strategy, talent relations, industry events, awards campaigns and international distribution initiatives at the network. Before coming to SundanceTV, she worked at publicity agency Dish Communications. She also worked in the music industry, at All American Music Group. Katie tells us she loves to go to the movies. However, she’s never seen a James Bond ‎film. Another apparent contradiction: Her favorite food is sushi but she doesn’t eat fish. In other El Rey news, Chad Blankenship was upped to svp of marketing and communications.

Stephanie Mitchko-Beale

Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, last year’s winner of the Women in Technology award from WICT, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and Cablefax, has joined Cross MediaWorks as chief technology officer. There she’ll lead the advancement of data-enhanced advertising solutions, such as addressable and advanced advertising. Her last post was svp of video infrastructure software at Cablevision. She spent 15 years there working on, among other things, the development of linear advanced advertising applications like telescoping, addressable targeting and dynamic ad insertion. Other previous roles include president and CEO of the consulting company IRT Inc and a five-year stint managing the electronic warfare division of Digital Signal Corporation. In her spare time, she likes to create mosaic art out of glass and tile. “I make mirrors and other designs for friend and family as gifts,” she says. She also enjoys adventure travel with her husband David and three children. “I have jumped out of a plane once while in New Zealand. That was enough for me.”