Chernin Group Exec Sarah Harden Named President Of Otter Media

Chernin Group/AT&T joint venture Otter Media is building up its digital media offerings, and a fresh executive will now oversee the company’s growth and strategy. Sarah Harden, who previously served as The Chernin Group’s Executive Vice President and the EVP of Strategy and Investments at Otter Media, is Otter Media’s new President.

Harden has spent the last two years working with The Chernin Group; highlights of her tenure at the company include her roles in both the formation of Otter Media and the acquisition of majority stakes in services like Crunchyroll and Fullscreen. Her new role, among other responsibilities, will place a major focus on Otter Media’s properities, in which it continues to take a bigger stake. In November, for example, Otter Media announced an additional $22 million investment in Crunchyroll.

“Helping build and develop Otter

Media since its inception has been an extremely rewarding experience and has laid a solid foundation for me to manage the venture in its next stage of growth,” said Harden in a press release. “I am thrilled to continue collaborating with my colleagues at The Chernin Group and AT&T, and at our portfolio companies Fullscreen and Ellation, to achieve our mutual, ambitious goals.”

The decision to promote Harden comes six months after Virasb Vahidi, who had served as Otter Media’s CEO, opted to leave the company. The Chernin Group hasn’t named a new Otter Media CEO since then, though many of Harden’s new job responsibilities resemble Vahidi’s.

Before joining The Chernin Group, Harden most recently worked at News Corporation and the Fox Networks Group.