NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom Labs, an incubator for the future of fan experience and engagement, today announced that Kiel Berry has joined as Co-Head and SVP. Berry, most recently head of Linkin Park’s Machine Shop Ventures, will co-lead Viacom Labs with Viacom veteran Susan Claxton who was recently promoted to SVP. The division reports to Viacom Executive Vice Presidents Ross Martin and Kern Schireson.
“In its first five months, we’ve doubled the Labs team, tripled its slate of projects, and seen the real business impact this team is already having across the Viacom portfolio,” said Martin, EVP of Marketing Strategy & Engagement. “With their unique backgrounds in entertainment, technology and business innovation, we’re thrilled to have Kiel and Sue leading the charge.”
Berry helped launch Linkin Park’s Machine Shop Ventures, which has stakes in Lyft, Hyperloop One, and Blue Bottle Coffee, among many others. He maintains an advisory role there. Berry started at Machine Shop Entertainment, aligning Linkin Park’s influence and interest across music, technology, content and design. Before that he worked at Creative Artists Agency in their Entertainment Marketing and International Business Development groups. Berry began his career working overseas and stateside as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan after graduating from University of Pennsylvania.
Berry’s co-head Susan Claxton has served as Viacom Labs’ executive producer since its launch. Claxton joined Viacom in 2010 as a Vice President at the company’s in-house creative consultancy Scratch. Previously, she was VP of Development & Production for Omnicom’s branded entertainment company, Full Circle Entertainment. She graduated from Yale University.
The New York-based Viacom Labs launched in May 2016 and has quickly made an impact across the company’s portfolio through Labs’ partnerships with Airbnb, GIPHY, real-time animation studio FlickerLab, and mobile-first publishing platform Citia.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.8 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
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