Rodríguez named President and Chief Operating Officer of Univision Communications Inc Networks

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) announced that Jessica Rodríguez has been appointed to the newly-created role of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UCI Networks, effective immediately. In her new role as President and COO of UCI Networks, she will also report to Isaac Lee, Chief Content Officer, UCI and Grupo Televisa (“Televisa”). In addition, Rodríguez will continue to serve in her existing role as Chief Marketing Officer of UCI, reporting to Randy Falco, President and Chief Executive Officer.

As President and COO of UCI Networks, Rodríguez will oversee daily operations of UCI’s television networks and play an integral role in developing and executing the networks’ strategies. This new organizational structure will support enhanced execution internally with all network operation functions – including production and entertainment, scheduling and programming research, the Univision Agency, and multiplatform media strategy and planning – organized under a single leader. This enhanced structure will also enable a more strategic partnership with other business units such as sales, distribution, human resources, legal, finance and operations as well as facilitate an even stronger and more unified partnership with Televisa. As part of this new structure, Lourdes Díaz, president of Entertainment, will report to Rodríguez.

As CMO of UCI, Rodríguez will continue to oversee research, consumer branding and messaging, corporate marketing, branding initiatives and campaigns, and branding analytics, among other functions.

“Jessica has been a critical member of our team for nearly 20 years and has played a major part in UCI’s continued transformation as a leading multiplatform media company and content creator,” said Falco. “In addition to remaining UCI’s outstanding CMO, she is the ideal person to seize the opportunities that will be created by adjusting our organizational structure at the UCI networks to become more streamlined and allow even more seamless collaboration with our partners at Televisa. The unified content teams for Univision and Televisa are working very well together, and this will help further accelerate the integration and success of our partnership.”

Lee commented, “Jessica is a tenacious leader with an impressive skill set and expertise that extends far beyond her existing role as CMO. I look forward to working closely with her in this expanded capacity to drive increased integration and alignment across the organization that positions our network programming and partnership with Televisa for long-term success.”

“I am excited to build on my role with UCI by expanding my impact at the Networks,” said Rodríguez. “No company is better positioned than UCI to serve a diverse, rising America and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and our partners to ensure we are delivering the best, most valuable content to our audiences.”

As CMO, Rodríguez spearheaded some of the Company’s most high-profile campaigns, including UCI’s first-ever brand campaign, “Todo Es Posible.” She was also integral in “Proof of Passion,” which positioned UCI’s bold new content as the primary driver of consumer passion, and launched “Tu Gente. Tu Voz.,” a groundbreaking local news branding exercise that highlighted the connection between UCI’s local news teams and the communities they serve. Under her stewardship, Univision Agency, which creates all promotional, creative and media content across UCI’s broadcast, cable, radio and digital properties, launched a national re-branding campaign “Univision. La Que Nos Une.” (Univision. The One that Unites Us.). The campaign brought a bold, fresh look to Univision Network’s on-air creative and renewed its focus on bringing together Hispanics on the rise as they approach a minority-majority population.

Prior to her role as CMO, Rodríguez held the position of EVP of Program Scheduling and Promotions where she was responsible for supporting Univision’s programming decision-making processes across all networks and platforms and overseeing the Univision Agency. Previously, Rodríguez served as SVP of Univision Cable Networks, and prior to that, VP, Special Assistant to the President of Univision Networks. She began her career at Univision as an intern in the Los Angeles station and then moved to Puerto Rico where she served in multiple roles, including VP and Station Manager. Earlier in her career, Rodríguez served as an analyst and then an associate for the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City, and as an analyst for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.