Variety Names Jeff Cooper as Group Senior Vice President of Consumer Partnerships

Variety has hired Jeff Cooper as group senior vice president of consumer partnerships. Based in New York, Cooper will report to Variety publisher and co-president Dea Lawrence. He will begin his role on Jan. 30.

Cooper is a seasoned media executive with over two decades of leadership experience across top organizations including Condé Nast, ESPN, SiriusXM and Time Inc. He recently served as head of sales for adMarketplace, an ad tech company, where he led revenue growth with a focus on new partner acquisition.

Before that, Cooper led Condé Nast’s travel category, managing $60 million in U.S. revenue and spearheading global sales efforts. He also served as head of global revenue strategy & U.S. account management during his tenure at Condé Nast, where he built and expanded a team of 65-plus digital executives and helped drive global revenue growth.

At ESPN, Cooper was instrumental in the digital sales development for properties like FiveThirtyEight and Grantland while also leading ESPN The Magazine as publisher. Earlier in his career, he held senior sales and strategy positions at Time Inc., Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest.

“Variety is building an even larger consumer business and Jeff is the perfect person to help continue that growth trajectory,” Lawrence said. “His experience, connections, and sales leadership are all well aligned with our goals and we look forward to building out his team.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining Variety to oversee the continued growth of the premier entertainment media brand,” Cooper said. “I sincerely look forward to working with partners to unlock the full commercial potential of this iconic brand.”

As Variety continues its rapid expansion, the company has introduced a new B2B Sales vertical. Michelle Fine-Smith has been appointed senior vice president of global B2B partnerships, where she will lead Variety‘s global B2B strategy and drive high-impact growth.