BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ray Milius, Executive Vice President of Programming Operations for Starz, announced the promotion of Judy Batenburg to Senior Vice President, IT Services and Vince Hostak to Senior Vice President, Post-Production.
“I’m happy to congratulate Judy and Vince on their well-deserved promotions. Their vision and leadership will help prepare and take us into the next generation of content production and IT support as we continue to expand our original programming and infrastructure,” said Milius.
Based in the company’s Colorado headquarters, Batenburg is responsible for IT Services, which includes the web infrastructure and computing services, including internal and cloud hosting. She also oversees IT Solutions Engineering, Client Engineering & Operations, Desktop architecture and engineering, and Technology Procurement.
Batenburg, who most recently served as Vice President of IT Services for Starz prior to her promotion, was honored as a ComputerWorld Premier 100 IT Leader in 2013, and has presented numerous industry presentations on transforming IT organizations, managing global infrastructures and BYOD. She is currently Co-Chair of the Society for Information Management (SIM) Women group and previously served as Co-Chair of the Colorado Technology Association’s Women in Technology group.
Prior to joining Starz in 2007, Batenburg served as IT director at IHS, overseeing global operations, help desk, infrastructure and IT program management. Her career began at AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, where she oversaw the development and deployment of Lucent’s global network and system management environment.
Batenburg earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Delaware.
In his new role as senior vice president, Hostak oversees post-production for promotions and marketing of STARZ and ENCORE services and original series including “Power,” “Outlander,” “Black Sails,” “Survivor’s Remorse” and “Blunt Talk.” He collaborates with Programming Operations, Media Systems & IT Development, IT Infrastructure & Operations to support ongoing and future distribution opportunities.
Also based in the company’s Colorado headquarters, Hostak aligns the creative and technical support teams of craft editors, sound designers, managers, system administrators and post production coordinators in production and post-supply chain management for STARZ and ENCORE.
Promoted from Vice President of Post Production, Hostak joined Starz in 2005 after serving as Director of Physical Production and Production Facilities at the University of Texas Film Institute and Burnt Orange Productions. Hostak also served as GM/Principal at 501 Post – a nationally-recognized post-production company with national advertising agency, broadcast, film and music publishing clients.
Hostak earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin and completed the Executive Leadership Development Program through the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Post Alliance and has been a regular presenter to Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) and National Association of Broadcasters on the subject of industrializing content management and production workflows.
About Starz
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks), global content distribution (Starz Distribution) and animated television and movie production (Starz Animation), www.starz.com.
Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. As of March 31, 2015, STARZ and ENCORE serve a combined 57.5 million subscribers, including 23.7 million at STARZ, and 33.8 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S. STARZ® and ENCORE®, along with Starz Networks’ third network MOVIEPLEX®, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through STARZ PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY. Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television. Starz Distribution’s home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties. Starz Animation produces animated TV and movie content for studios, networks, distributors and audiences worldwide.
