Ruiz named SVP of Talent Development and Strategist Telemundo.

Telemundo Media announced the appointment of veteran television and music executive Mario Ruiz as Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Strategy, effective immediately. Ruiz will be based in Miami and report to Alfredo Richard, Senior Vice President of Communications and Talent Strategy.
In his new role, Ruiz is responsible for developing and executing Telemundo Media’s overall on-air talent business strategy, as well as leading the on-air talent positioning strategy in partnership with key stakeholders within all areas of Telemundo Media including Telemundo Studios, Alternative Programming, Sports, News, Telemundo Station Group, Telemundo International, Marketing, Sales, Digital, Business Affairs and mun2.

“Mario brings a wealth of expertise in identifying and developing talent in the Hispanic entertainment industry,” said Alfredo Richard, SVP, Communications and Talent Strategy, Telemundo Media. “As we continue to invest in the largest Spanish-speaking talent roster in the country across our news, sports and entertainment properties, Mario is going to play a key role in fueling the growth of Telemundo Media.”

Ruiz joins Telemundo Media from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS), where he served as a consultant and executive producer since 2011. The Latin Recording Academy, a division of the U.S. recording academy, is the not-for-profit organization committed to awarding excellence in music (the Latin Grammy) and supporting Latin music throughout the world. At LARAS, Ruiz worked on “Person of the Year 2012,” a tribute event honoring Brazilian superstar Caetano Veloso and “Person of the Year 2011,” a star-studded extravaganza honoring Colombian superstar Shakira. He also produced two “Latin Grammy Acoustic Sessions” featuring major artists, Juanes and Reik in Mexico City, and Milton Nascimento and Toquinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with the objective of promoting the Grammy brand within the music community and increasing local academy membership, among other prominent events.

From 2004-2011, Ruiz worked at Univision Networks as Vice President of Talent, where he was responsible for centralizing main functions for major on-camera talent amongst the three networks, Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision, by providing full service support to all entertainment shows and newscast programs. During his tenure, Ruiz signed Mexican actress Blanca Soto and Venezuelan host and actress, Chiquinquira Delgado, among others. Prior to that, he held several international executive posts at EMI Music Group, where he worked with some of music’s biggest stars including Garth Brooks, Sir Paul McCartney, Jon Secada, Janet Jackson and many more. From 1994-1999, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer at EMI Mexico and broke seven new artists to Gold/Platinum status in a single year, an unprecedented industry record. From 1992-1994, he was the Vice President, Marketing of EMI Music International in London, England and from 1987-1992, he was the Director Artist & Repertoire (A&R) and Marketing for EMI Music Latin America where he signed some of Latin Music’s biggest artists including the legendary Selena, Paulina Rubio, Thalia and Aleks Syntek. He also executive produced Placido Domingo’s album of Latin love songs titled “De Mi Alma Latina” which sold over 1 million copies.