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Luis Duran will head up HBO Max Latin America as the streaming service prepares to launch later this year in the region, WarnerMedia said Tuesday. Duran will report to Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International.
“HBO has a stellar reputation as the go-to destination for premium programming throughout Latin America, and HBO Max will build on that foundation to offer a broader selection of entertainment content that will appeal to the entire household,” said Larcher in a statement. “We have set ambitious goals to make HBO Max a compelling and accessible streaming option in Latin America, and I am confident Luis and his team are ready to help realize this aspiration.”
Duran most recently served as chief commercial officer for the digital unit of MBC Group, a media company based in Dubai, where he was part of the successful relaunch of the group’s flagship digital product, Shahid, overseeing all revenue streams and leading the marketing, distribution and analytics and support teams. Prior to MBC Group, Duran held senior leadership roles at iflix, a video-on-demand service focused on emerging markets, and at TIMWE, a global provider of digital and traditional content solutions. Duran also has an extensive management consulting background after spending ten years at Delta Partners, where as an associate partner he focused on telecommunications and media.
Joining Duran’s leadership team in Latin America are Dionne Bermudez as head of product, Jose Calderoni as head of growth marketing, Dainira Falk as legal lead, Maria Huntsberry as talent lead, Jesus Rodriguez as head of content experience and Dario Tonelli as head of data, insights and planning.
As head of the product experience group, Bermudez will report to both the Latin America team and the HBO Max Global Product team under Sarah Lyons. Bermudez will lead the effort to shape HBO Max’s app experience across all major platforms throughout the region, while also closely collaborating with the growth marketing, content experience and data teams.
Bermudez has been with HBO Latin America for 20 years, and led the launch and integration of the HBO Go streaming platform.
Jose Calderoni is spearheading the growth marketing team, overseeing groups that include acquisition, brand, creative, lifecycle management, and business development, as well as publicity and activations, social media and customer service.
Calderoni previously served as Starz’ SVP of international marketing for direct-to- consumer and Netflix’s marketing and social director for North and Latin America. He also led marketing and ecommerce at startup airline Volaris.
Dario Tonelli will lead data, insights and planning, providing financial, strategic and competitive insights to the HBO Max Latin America leadership team. Prior to joining, Tonelli was head of corporate development and financial analysis with Turner Latin America.
Jesus Rodriguez will head the content experience team, overseeing the editorial strategy for HBO Max Latin America. With more than fifteen years of experience in the entertainment industry, Rodriguez transitions from his past role as general manager of HBO Networks Latin America.
Dainira Falk will be the legal lead for HBO Max in Latin America. Reporting to David Ho, global legal lead for HBO Max, Falk trained as an attorney in both the US and Latin America and has an extensive career in the entertainment industry. She transitions to HBO Max Latin America from HBO Latin America, where she provided legal counsel to the region in several key areas of the business, including regulatory, consumer protection, advertising sales, litigation, and marketing.
Maria Huntsberry will be the talent lead, reporting into the team led by Michele Golden. Huntsberry will be instrumental in aligning the business needs of HBO Max Latin America with talent management strategies that can help develop the people, culture and business into the future. Huntsberry has more than 25 years of experience and was most recently VP and human-resources group lead at Warner Bros.
HBO Max Latin America’s team will build on the partnership with Whit Richardson, president, WarnerMedia Latin America, and members of his team – including Jorge Carey, head of distribution; Tomás Yankelevich, chief content officer, general entertainment; and Pablo Zuccarino, head of kids, Latin America.