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Skydance Corp., the new company formed from David Ellison’s massive Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, has established the leadership team overseeing financial operations across the business.
Ellison and Ynon Kreiz,
co-CEO of Skydance, previously announced the senior leadership team for the new company (a day before the deal officially closed). Since then, different business units and corporate groups have been laying out the new executive teams for the combined Paramount-WBD, which will have annual revenue of nearly $70 billion on a pro-forma basis and net debt of around $80 billion.
On Wednesday morning, Skydance CFO Dennis Cinelli (formerly Paramount Skydance’s finance chief) sent a memo to staffers announcing the leadership team for the finance group — which will be intimately involved in trying to help the company achieve its projected $6 billion in annualized cost savings, an exercise set to include what are expected to be several rounds of layoffs.
“Today we’re announcing the leadership team for Skydance Finance. Each of these leaders brings the experience and judgment to help us build something exceptional, and I’m excited to work alongside them and to share where I think we can take this team from here,” Cinelli wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Variety.
Cinelli thanked employees who “put in extraordinary effort to support the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery” and said that “your work was essential to getting this deal done.” He also gave a shout-out to the legacy Warner Bros. Discovery finance team, writing that “you kept the business performing through a long period of not knowing how this would end. That takes discipline, and it didn’t go unnoticed.”
He continued, “As you’ve heard David [Ellison] say, our goal is to become the next-generation media and entertainment company. We’ll only get there if Finance operates at the highest level and helps drive the business. Every greenlight decision, technology investment, partnership deal and number reported externally depends on the quality of your work.”
According to Cinelli, the new Skydance financial leadership “reflects the strengths of both organizations and puts the right leaders in the right places.” Here’s the structure he outlined in the memo:
Corporate Leaders
- Kevin Creighton, EVP, Corporate Finance & Treasury, will lead an expanded organization that includes corporate finance, treasury, strategic finance, as well as the FP&A (financial planning and analysis) and Content Finance and Strategy centers of excellence. Creighton will also continue to oversee investor relations on an interim basis while Skydance searches for a new head of IR.
- Fraser Woodford, EVP, Treasury at Warner Bros. Discovery, will stay through the end of March 2027 to “transition work” to Creighton’s organization and “help us find his successor.”
- Todd Davis, EVP, Head of Global Tax, will lead Skydance’s global tax function, managing tax strategy, planning and compliance across all businesses and jurisdictions.
- Kathy Gill-Charest, EVP, Controller & Chief Accounting Officer, will lead global controllership, including accounting, financial reporting and internal controls for all divisions.
- Sandy Pundmann, EVP & Chief Audit Risk Officer, will lead internal audit and risk with a focus on strengthening controls that protect the company.
- Simon Robinson, EVP & Chief Business Transformation Officer, will head up the “Integration Management Office,” coordinating integration efforts across the company “to help us combine our businesses smoothly and capture the full value of the transaction.”
Business Unit CFOs (dual-reporting to Cinelli and their respective BU heads)
- Mark Badagliacca, EVP & CFO, Film, will lead finance for the film business. He will also lead the participations and residuals center of excellence (COE) and co-lead the production finance COE.
- Patrick Cavanaugh, EVP & CFO, Distribution, will lead finance for the distribution and affiliates business.
- Nitin Chawla, EVP & CFO, Global Content Sales, will lead finance for content licensing and home entertainment businesses.
- Adam Cohn, EVP & CFO of CNN, will lead finance for CNN news.
- Eric Gray, EVP & CFO, TV Studios, will lead finance for Skydance’s Television Studio businesses, as well as co-lead the production finance COE.
- Christine Hong, EVP & CFO of Advertising and Head of Revenue Operations, will lead finance for the ad business and will oversee revenue operations across the company.
- Kedar Nadkarni, EVP, CFO & Head of Strategy and Insights, Consumer Products and Publishing, will lead finance across consumer products, publishing and DC comics businesses. He also will continue to lead strategy and operations under Josh Silverman, president, Skydance Products and Publishing.
- Ben Paul, EVP & CFO, Games & Experiences, will lead finance for the games and experiences businesses.
- Josh Walker, EVP & CFO, Streaming, will lead finance for the streaming business.
- Liz Wright, EVP & CFO, Skydance TV Segment will lead finance for the global television networks business.
In addition to those appointments, Bryon Rubin is stepping out of his role as CFO of TV Media to become COO of Skydance Television.
“There will be challenges as we integrate businesses and keep raising the bar, but I have great confidence in this team. What we do matters, and how we do it matters even more,” Cinelli wrote in the memo.
Cinelli also outlined six “pillars” guiding the finance organization:
- Nail the basics: Close the books accurately and fast. Stay fully compliant on SEC reporting, tax and internal audit. Forecast with confidence and reflect the true state of the business.
- Set plans: Build financial and strategic plans that align the company, drive accountability and reach ambitious long-range goals.
- Partner deeply: Finance leaders sit alongside their business partners on execution and strategic trade-offs, with an owner-operator mindset. We think like we own the P&L, because we do.
- Decide with data and AI: Democratize data so it moves across the company, not just within teams. Automate the grind so our time goes to analysis. Combine operating KPIs, financial KPIs and business judgment to make better investment trade-offs, sign the best deals and run efficiently.
- Tell the story: Be the financial and strategic storytellers to our stakeholders and investors. Connect the numbers to the progress we’re making and the progress still ahead.
- Build a talent factory: This is where top Finance talent is incubated, builds careers, and become company leaders.
