NBCUniversal’s Jessica Kurdali is moving to Comcast’s Versant to serve as senior vice president of talent strategy.
In his new role, Kurdali will oversee all talent management, recruiting and development across the company’s news, sports and entertainment businesses, which include MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel, and Digital Assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, Golfnow and SportsEng.
She will lead the company’s talent relations function, including strategic recruiting, on-air development and long-term talent pipeline training. She will also work across Versant’s business to elevate emerging voices, drive cross-platform visibility and cultivate a robust talent pool.
Kurdali, who has more than two decades of experience shaping on-air talent at the highest levels of broadcast journalism, most recently served as senior vice president of talent strategy and development for NBC News and MSNBC. During her 22-year tenure, she played a key role in identifying, developing and securing top-tier talent across the news group’s portfolio.
She is Versant’s latest executive appointment, following Frank Tanki as chief marketing officer for entertainment and sports, Tom Clendenin as chief marketing officer for CNBC and MSNBC, Brian Carovilano as SVP of editorial standards and partnerships for news, Nate Balogh as EVP and chief information officer, and Brian Duffy as VP of technical operations.
Other recent Versant hires include Kyle Strickland as SVP of business product and operations, Jayshree Mahtani serves as SVP of associate general counsel for corporate governance, M&A and commercial transactions and assistant corporate secretary, Andrew Borteck as SVP and associate general counsel for sports, digital and direct-to-consumer, Susie Kricena as SVP of content acquisitions and Michael Sluchan as SVP of Scripted Content and Entertainment.
MSNBC has also made several key leadership appointments, including Scott Matthew as senior vice president of newsgathering, Joey Cole from NBC News and Erin Zimmerman from ABC News, who will lead day-to-day and long-term planning for Madeleine Madeleine Haeringer.
More to come…
