Lucy Hood, CEO of Jamba and President of Fox Mobile Entertainment,
announced her resignation today. She says that she’s eager to pursue
more entrepreneurial venturesJamba COO Lee Fenton will assume her
Hood, who has been with News Corp. for more than a decade, helped launch
Fox Mobile Entertainment in 2005, leading a team responsible for such
wireless firsts as text voting on American Idol, inventing the
Mobisode short movies specifically made for the mobile phone - and offering the first
sponsored video content in the United States.
“It’s been extremely
exciting and rewarding for me to help build News Corporation’s
mobile business over the past few years,” said
Hood, “but I’m eager
to pursue more entrepreneurial ventures and I’m
looking forward to the next opportunity.”
“Lucy has been a key architect of News Corp.’s
mobile strategy over the past few years and we’re
grateful for her many contributions to our business,”
said Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News
Corporation.
She also oversaw News Corp.’s strategic move
into global mobile entertainment in 2006 as a joint venture partner in
Jamba, an alliance that merged Fox Mobile Entertainment with Jamba
assets to form the first vertically integrated mobile entertainment
company.
About Jamba
Jamba is one of the world’s leading providers
of mobile entertainment able to reach one in six consumers around the
globe. With a wide offering of mobile products and services available
directly via mobile phones, Jamba connects people with their passions in
35 countries on five continents and in 23 languages. Branded popular
content from around the world including The Simpsons and The
Simple Life, the latest content from major media companies,
including chart-topping ringtones from top music labels, mobile games
from renowned game developers, and original content made exclusively for
mobile phones, allows Jamba to give consumers what they want, when they
want it and where they want it. Jamba is a joint venture between News
Corporation (NYSE:NWS) (NYSE:NWS.A) and VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) and
headquartered in Beverly Hills, Calif.
LUCY HOOD, Chief Executive Officer, Jamba
Lucy Hood is chief executive officer (CEO) of Jamba, the mobile industry’s
largest vertically integrated mobile entertainment company. Hood was
appointed to this position in September, 2006 after spearheading News
Corporation’s efforts to acquire a
controlling interest in Jamba from VeriSign. Lucy Hood is known as an
innovative industry leader in wireless, and as a key architect of News
Corp’s mobile strategy.
Under Hood’s leadership, Jamba, whose reach
extends to one billion people in 25 languages, offers the world’s widest
selection of popular mobile entertainment, including content from media
companies such as Universal Music, Warner Music, MTV, Sony/BMG and
Disney Entertainment. Jamba will also continue to offer unique, original
and made-for-mobile content offerings, with the addition of content from
News Corporation’s 60 divisions. Jamba’s
most recent success is the release of The Simpsons Mobile -
which launched globally day and date in 35 countries in July.
Hood started her career at News Corporation over a decade ago and has
been a key executive in launching numerous technology businesses at Fox
and News Corporation including Fox Pay Television, Fox.com, FX Cable and
News Corp Content Group.
Prior to becoming CEO of Jamba, Hood was president of Fox Mobile
Entertainment which she founded in 2005. During this time Hood created
many industry firsts, including leading the groundbreaking “American
Idol” mobile efforts, which introduced text
messaging to the mass population in the United States. Hood also
received the first and only Emmy nomination for mobile content with the
mobile video series “24:Conspiracy,”
and led the team that created Mobisodes and the first ad-sponsored
mobile video.
Hood is a keynote speaker at major industry events and business
conferences around the world. She is regularly featured in lists of key
influential executives, including Billboard’s
Top Ten Digital Executives, the Mobile Entertainment Top 50 and Digital
Entertainment Top 50. She is a member of the Leadership Council of the
Board of Advisors for the CTIA and is a member of the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences.
Hood holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Business and a B.A. degree in English and Theatre
from Yale University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two
children.