ESPN's Jodi Markley has been promoted to executive vice president, content operations & creative services, effective January 1, 2016. Markley, who has been with ESPN for 26 years, will add oversight of the creative services and production enhancement department, the ESPN stats & information group and the Los Angeles Production Facility to her current portfolio of remote operations, production operations, operations development and studio directing.
Markley will report to Norby Williamson, executive vice president, production. Steve Anderson, current executive vice president, content operations & creative services, is retiring December 31, 2015 after a 35-year career at ESPN.
"I've worked with Steve and alongside these groups for many years and have a tremendous amount of respect for what they accomplish on a daily basis," Markley said. "I'm excited to oversee this extraordinary group of talented people."
Williamson added, "Jodi exemplifies the values of
ESPN with a focus on her people while living the culture that led to unprecedented success and maintaining her entrepreneurial spirit. Utilizing innovation and new technology to enhance delivery systems to serve sports fans - along with her understanding of the business needs from a content and operational perspective - have driven her career at ESPN."
Since 2007, Markley held the position of senior vice president, operations. In that role, she had direct oversight of the logistics planning and execution of all productions in the studio and in the field.
Prior to that, Markley served as senior vice president, international production,
ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS. She joined
ESPN full-time in March 1989 in broadcast operations control. She was promoted to production coordinator,
ESPN International, the following year, and was named director in 1995. In 1997, she was promoted to vice president and assumed responsibility for international operations. In April 2001, her responsibilities grew to include all commercial operations, remote operations and program integration, in addition to international production.
Markley played an integral role in the launch of dozens of
ESPN International networks, as well as numerous programming initiatives - including 13 different versions of
SPORTSCENTER around the globe. She was also part of the launch of
ESPN DEPORTES in the U.S.
Markley is a member of WICT (Women in Cable Telecommunications) and AWSM (Association for Women in Sports Media). She serves on the Advisory Board for SVG (Sports Video Group) and serves on the Board for the Connecticut and Rhode Island chapters of The American Red Cross. She is an alumnus of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and was selected as one of Broadcast and Cable's 2011 "Women to Watch." Markley was named to the Multichannel News Class of 2014 "Wonder Women" list and CableFAX: The Magazine's "Most Powerful Women in Cable" for 2013. In November 2014, she received the WICT New England Career Achievement Award. In September 2015, she was selected as a Sports Business Journal "Game Changer."
Prior to joining ESPN, Markley worked as production manager for film company Motion, Inc., co-producing numerous documentaries. She had also been a freelance producer and associate director for ESPN, TSN, BSkyB and TESN. A native of Miami, Markley was graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor of arts degree in communications in 1986, and an Executive MBA from Simmons College in 2000.
