Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, Starz, LLC (Los Angeles)

John Penney is Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Development for Starz, LLC. Penney is responsible for evaluating and building key business strategies, partnerships, and identifying and developing new business opportunities across the family of Starz companies.  John joined Starz in March 2010.

Most recently, Penney was President and Head of Corporate Development of Foresee Entertainment, a media and entertainment company he co-founded with current Starz, LLC President and CEO, Chris Albrecht in 2008.  At Foresee, Penney was responsible for operations and the planning and development of its strategy, expansion efforts and new business platforms.

More recently, Penney served as Head of Global Media Strategy for IMG, Inc., where he was responsible for developing and implementing a new global entertainment strategy, focusing on production and distribution of non-scripted, scripted, and digital programming. Penney was an early proponent of the digital transformation of the entertainment industry.

Prior to that, Penney was with HBO for five years, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Digital Initiatives, where he oversaw the strategic planning, delivery and operational management of new advertising-supported broadband channels.

Prior to that, as Executive Vice President at ACTV, Inc., he oversaw the development and licensing of technologies and intellectual property for interactive television, personal computer, wireless data and mobile entertainment environments.

Before executive stints at Scient, Inc. and Viacom, Penney spent seven years on Wall Street, both as an equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. covering the media and entertainment industries, and as a financial analyst in the Media & Telecommunications Corporate Finance group of The Chase Manhattan Bank.

Penney holds a B.A. in Social Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy & Administration, concentrating in Science & Technology, from Columbia University.