John Penney

JohnPenney

EVP, Strategy & Business Development, Starz, LLC

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

Prior to joining Starz, 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.

Before joining Foresee, 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.

An early and ongoing proponent of the digital transformation of the entertainment industry, prior to IMG, 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 digital businesses and new advertising-supported broadband channels.

Penney was Executive Vice President at ACTV, Inc., where 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.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter