Ben Silverman Appoints Chris Grant, Former Shine International President and Original Reveille Partner, as CEO of Electus

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ben Silverman's multimedia studio Electus, an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) today announced that Chris Grant will join the Company as CEO effective November 1st. In his new role, Grant will take responsibility for the Company's next phase of growth across Global TV, digital and branded entertainment. Grant's strengths in advertising and international distribution, acquisition and production will also serve as a launching pad for Electus' domestic television agenda.

Grant will report directly to founder Ben Silverman who will continue to oversee all aspects of Electus including creative opportunities and expansion strategies amongst the Company's studio partners CollegeHumor, Notional, DumbDumb, Electus Distribution, 5x5 Media, DiGa and myriad of television and digital projects. Drew Buckley, COO of Electus will expand his role, taking responsibility for all operations including digital, advertising, finance, mergers and acquisitions and managing the company's Yahoo, Microsoft and Google relationships. Buckley will be partnered with Grant and will report directly to Silverman.

"Watching Chris Grant grow into the finest and most sought after executive television has seen in a long time has brought me tremendous joy and pride.  He was an amazing partner at Reveille, and will be an amazing leader for Electus.  He is a fantastic collaborator and entrepreneur with management skills and great passion," said Ben Silverman, founder of Electus. "With Drew Buckley and Chris Grant's individual experience, relationships and skill sets, Electus will continue to drive forward our ambitious content strategy across platforms as well as our overall vision to become the only true, nimble independent studio."

"I am incredibly proud to have the opportunity to join Electus as CEO and could not ask to work with a more talented and dedicated team of creative executives in a studio that has seen tremendous growth and success over such a short period of time," said Chris Grant. "One of the driving forces behind my decision to join Electus was the opportunity to lead an independent studio that has the scale and bandwidth to compete, but does not have the same international production agenda. Once I join Electus, I expect to collaborate with Ben and Drew to aggressively seek out and acquire U.S. and U.K. companies who can create international productions that live and thrive on a variety of platforms and that can leverage Electus' distribution model."

"Chris' extraordinary relationships with broadcasters, distributors and producers around the globe, coupled with his expertise in international production and distribution, will be an enormous asset to our company," said Drew Buckley, COO of Electus. "We look forward to welcoming him to our team."

Grant previously served as President of Shine International, the global sales and distribution arm responsible for distributing programming from the Shine Group companies, including Reveille, Kudos, Dragonfly, Princess Productions, Brown Eyed Boy, Shine TV, Shine France, Shine Germany, Shine Australia and Metronome, the Nordic region's production group. During Grant's tenure at Shine International, non-scripted formats including MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and The Moment of Truth became global television brands, broke ratings records across multiple territories; while scripted successes have included The Listener, a successful co-production between NBC, Fox International Channels and CTV in Canada where the show is entering its' third season, and Archer, a hit FX series which, despite its adult animation format, has done exceptionally well all over the globe.

Earlier in his career, Grant was a Managing Director at Reveille, the production and distribution company focusing on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights through scripted and alternative television formats that was founded by current Electus founder and Chairman Ben Silverman. At Reveille, Grant was responsible for overseeing the company's International Distribution and Creative Affairs division.

About Electus

Electus is the first integrated multimedia entertainment studio to unite producers, creators, advertisers and distributors under one roof and produce all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world. Headed by Ben Silverman, in partnership with IAC [NASDAQ: IACI], the company connects advertisers, distributors and content creators early on in the development process, enabling marketers and advertisers to be a true partner in campaigns and content creation. For more information on Electus, visit www.electus.com.

Media Contacts
Electus
Stacy Simpson
212-314-7470
[email protected]

Sunshine Sachs
Jessica Berger
212.691.2800
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SOURCE Electus