LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Candle Media (“Candle”), the next-generation media company run by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has hired veteran media executives Courtney Cappa and Kendall Ostrow as Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting, and Senior Vice President, Business Development & Community, respectively. Cappa will help drive Candle’s corporate finance efforts, including the building of the corporate team to oversee financial planning and accounting for the entire organization, reporting to Candle CFO Salil Mehta. Ostrow will help drive Candle’s business development and community efforts, with a focus on building strategic partnerships, and developing innovative strategies designed to further build and strengthen the communities around Candle, its business units and brands. Ostrow will report to Brent Weinstein, Candle’s Chief Development Officer. Cappa will be based in Los Angeles, with Ostrow based in New York.
“We are thrilled to have Courtney and Kendall join Candle,” said Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of Candle. “They are tremendous executives with deep experience, skills and relationships and we are confident they will play pivotal roles in Candle’s continued growth.”
Cappa is a seasoned media and entertainment industry executive, bringing a wide variety of strategic, financial and operational experience to Candle from companies ranging from independent studio start-ups to the biggest entertainment conglomerates. Cappa most recently served as Head of Finance and Controller at independent film and television studio Wiip, where she was instrumental in guiding the company from start-up, through several rounds of fund-raising, to its successful sale to JTBC Studios. Prior to Wiip she served as Vice President of Finance/Accounting at Legendary and Europacorp, where she also helped lead both companies through periods of significant growth, worked on several key acquisitions, and finally the sale of Legendary to Wanda, one of the largest independent studio deals to date. Cappa began her media career at the Walt Disney Company where she worked in several key finance roles including seven years in Corporate Management Audit, and she began her professional career as Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young.
Over the past 15 years, Ostrow has been at the forefront of the quickly-evolving digital media landscape. She has a strong track record of building strategies for brands, media companies and talent, guiding them to capitalize on digital trends, develop deeply engaged communities, and leverage established and emerging social media and commerce platforms. Prior to joining Candle, Ostrow spent over seven years at United Talent Agency, where she built the company’s Digital Strategy department, and then served as the Head of Client Strategy for UTA IQ, the agency's full-service strategy and insights division. Prior to UTA Ostrow was a digitally focused executive at ID PR, and was Head of New Media for The Ellen Show, where she helped build and drive their initial social media strategies.
About Candle Media
Candle is an independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises that is built for the digital age. By bringing together elite talent operating at the intersection of content, community, and commerce, it helps position leading entertainment businesses for accelerated, sustainable growth in the current market and beyond. Candle is run by its Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, leading entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, and backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone’s flagship private equity business.
