Leadership

Monty Sarhan

As CEO of SkyShowtime, Monty Sarhan is responsible for spearheading the launch of the next great streaming service for Europe. Under Monty’s leadership, SkyShowtime brings together the best entertainment from the world’s greatest studios and storytellers, to offer new and exclusive entertainment to millions of homes across 20+ European markets.

Monty joined from Comcast Cable, where he served as Senior Vice President of Content Acquisition. Prior to that, he led MGM’s premium television service Epix as its Executive Vice President and General Manager, where he launched Epix’s direct-to-consumer streaming service across all platforms and secured full national distribution for its networks.

Hristina Georgieva

Hristina Georgieva leads Distribution & Partnerships at SkyShowtime with P&L responsibility for all B2B revenue. Hristina oversees new business development, and partnerships with distributors, platforms, device manufacturers, retailers, service providers, consumer products manufacturers and more.

Previously, as VP of Affiliate Distribution & Commercial Development at Disney, Hristina helped launch Disney+ across EMEA, negotiating deals with key cable, satellite, and telco partners. With a career focused on driving distribution and revenue, Hristina has held senior roles at Fox Networks Group and Discovery, leading pan-European commercial strategies and partnerships.

Jill Duffell

Jill Duffell leads the PR & Communications function across 20+ markets and is responsible for consumer, corporate and internal communications. This includes defining the strategy across all areas, publicity across all new and exclusive series, Pay 1 movies and local original programming, large scale event management, thought leadership, profile building and speaking opportunities, as well as reputation and issues management. 

Prior to working at SkyShowtime, Jill has previously held a number of positions across consumer and corporate communications for entertainment brands including Sky and NOW, as well as global travel group Thomas Cook.

Kai Finke

Kai Finke leads the programming team and is responsible for programming strategy, overseeing the service’s top-quality pipeline of partner studio entertainment, merchandising and scheduling, and SkyShowtime’s Original programming slate and acquisitions.

Kai joins SkyShowtime from Netflix where he was Director of Content across multiple European markets. He has worked in production, international distribution, and acquisitions for more than 20 years, including for Munich-based distributor Telepool and for Vodafone. Kai has strong relationships with leading creatives, producers, distributors, and networks throughout Europe and a proven track record of bringing local-language entertainment to SkyShowtime markets as well as global audiences.

Roberto Soto

Roberto Soto is responsible for the strategy and direction of our SkyShowtime brand, creative, marketing, subscriber acquisition, retention, engagement, trading, and planning teams. Roberto brings commercial and strategic focus to driving membership growth and revenue for our D2C business, optimising our activities across the funnel.

Previously, Roberto served as SVP and CMO for HBO Max EMEA. There, he led HBO Max’s successful rollout across all of SkyShowtime's 20+ markets in EMEA. He has also held senior roles leading Growth Marketing, Product, Business Development, Content, Strategy, and Distribution at Fox, Paramount Global, Liberty Global and start-ups like MUBI.

Josh Snow

Josh Snow leads teams across product strategy and delivery, customer service, information technology and data. He is responsible for delivering great stories to our subscribers and enhancing the overall customer experience.

Prior to SkyShowtime, Josh worked as Senior Vice President of Product and Design at NBCUniversal. Josh’s multi-platform expertise spans web, app and mobile experience. He brings a deep knowledge of the Peacock platform, which is the technology foundation for SkyShowtime, along with significant product strategy and development experience from across the entertainment and sports sectors.

Henriette Skov

Henriette leads SkyShowtime's Partner Marketing team across all European markets, overseeing initiatives with both local and pan-regional partners. She and her team drive B2B partnerships, helping partners bring the SkyShowtime brand to life.

Henriette also provides leadership to our teams in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm, connecting them to the broader business, reinforcing our culture and values, and offering support.

Previously, as Director of Marketing at Paramount, Henriette played a key role in the launch of Paramount+ in the Nordics. With extensive experience in the entertainment and direct-to-consumer space, Henriette brings valuable expertise to SkyShowtime.

Gabor Harsanyi

Gabor Harsanyi leads SkyShowtime’s Distribution & Partnerships team in the CEE region, overseeing key partner and distributor relationships, deal negotiations, renewals and B2B marketing initiatives.

Gabor also provides local leadership to SkyShowtime teams in Warsaw and Budapest, strengthening the team's connection to the wider business while upholding our culture and values and offering support to these local teams.

A proven leader, Gabor previously served as General Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, Austria, and Switzerland at Paramount and has held roles at HBO and Coca-Cola.

Raquel Berzosa

In her dual role as Regional General Manager and SVP, Distribution & Partnerships Iberia, Raquel provides leadership to the local teams, drawing on her deep understanding of the Iberian market all while championing the SkyShowtime culture and values.

Raquel is pivotal in building strategic partnerships and driving deal negotiations in order to enhance SkyShowtime’s profile, brand and subscriber reach across the region.

Raquel has a long-standing career in the entertainment industry having previously worked for NBCUniversal where she spearheaded the launch of the Universal+ on-demand service, on all the major operators in Spain.

Francesca Pierce

Francesca is responsible for setting SkyShowtime’s strategic direction, overseeing business strategy functions, advanced analytics and business information. She is also responsible for maximising the business operationally and financially, focusing on driving continuous improvement across departments, and working with leaders across the business to ensure teams have a clear sense of purpose.

Francesca helped shape SkyShowtime’s business plan, bringing extensive experience in financial planning and commercial negotiations to the streaming service. Before her current role, she served as SkyShowtime’s first CFO. Francesca joined from Sky, where she held several finance leadership roles, including Director of Finance for New Businesses and Markets.

Mark Neil

Mark Neil leads the finance team at SkyShowtime, with a focus on informing and shaping new growth ideas, originating business plans and commercial finance support on related agreements.

Prior to joining SkyShowtime, Mark spent seven years as CFO at A+E Networks EMEA, working closely with the UK Board of Directors, which included executives from Sky and Hearst. Mark built out a full finance structure and helped to deliver growth across the integrated EMEA businesses. Mark has over three decades of experience in media and telecommunications, having previously worked at News Corporation, Thomson Reuters, and Scripps Networks.

Richard Thurston

Richard Thurston leads the HR function and is responsible for making sure SkyShowtime employees have the best experience and the right career support. Richard oversees all aspects of recruitment, reward, training and development as well as working with Monty and the leadership team to build an inclusive and inspiring culture.

In his previous role as HR Director for Sky, Richard was instrumental in shaping Sky’s Group operating model. Before joining Sky, Richard worked for the BBC as HR Director of the BBC News Group supporting teams across the globe and prior to that he spent seven years at ITV.

John Heinemann

John Heinemann is a strategic advisor to the SkyShowtime Leadership team and the Board of Directors while overseeing the entire legal function including commercial and transactional matters, compliance and regulatory matters, privacy and data protection, content licensing/production, and channel and SVOD service distribution.

John was previously Associate Principal Counsel for Nordics and MENA at The Walt Disney Company, where he helped launch Disney+ internationally, negotiating multiyear agreements across Europe and MENA. Previously, John has worked at Fox Network Groups, BBC Worldwide, and Viasat Broadcasting.