Credit: Jai Lennard/CNN
Now that the media world has been properly jolted by the news that CNN’s embattled CEO Chris Licht will be vacating his position, here’s what you need to know about Amy Entelis, the executive stepping to run the operation until a new, permanent CEO is chosen.
For starters, the current executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide has a stellar reputation. In a Puck article published by Dylan Byers, who broke the news of Licht’s departure this morning, Entelis — who joined CNN in 2012 — is described as “revered” and “loyal” going back to her tenure as the deputy to Licht’s predecessor, Jeff Zucker. But Entelis is also responsible for several wildly successful and well-received CNN projects for CNN Originals, the creation of which she oversaw, including, according to a network release, “more than 45 multi-part documentary series and 60 feature-length documentary films, earning more than 110 awards and 445 nominations for the cable network, including CNN’s first Academy Award win for Navalny.”
In addition to CNN’s first Oscar, Entelis also launched Sunday primetime’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper this year. Other projects produced by her team include Stanley Tucci‘s Searching for Italy, the late Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, and This is Life with Lisa Ling.
As senior talent executive, Entelis is also known as CNN’s “talent whisperer,” which Byers says could serve her well to boost morale at the network as it finds its footing again. While she’s in charge, she will be overseeing “all programming and editorial matters.”
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