CNN hired Alex Charalambides, most recently chief technology officer at digital media firm Insider Inc., as its new CTO.
Charalambides officially starts at CNN on Monday, Nov. 28. He reports to Patty Hirsch, global EVP of consumer digital for Warner Bros. Discovery.
CNN, like other properties under the former WarnerMedia, has seen a high amount of turnover following Discovery’s acquisition to form Warner Bros. Discovery. Charalambides will assume the CTO role after the departure of CNN Digital CTO Robyn Peterson in June, when interim head of CNN Digital Alex MacCallum also exited. Those staffing changes came under CNN CEO Chris Licht, who came on board after Warner Bros. Discovery closed the WarnerMedia deal and quickly shuttered the CNN+ subscription service.
Last month, CNN named Athan Stephanopolous, previously president of Group Nine Media’s NowThis, as the head of CNN Digital. In a memo to staff, Stephanopolous called Charalambides “a seasoned engineering executive who will help carry CNN Digital on our path forward.”
Hirsch, in a memo announcing Charalambides’ hire, said he will “oversee the technology for CNN and its massive — and important — digital platforms that serve millions of users around the globe every month. He will partner directly with the CNN Digital Worldwide organization and Athan Stephanopolous’s leadership team working closely to identify strategic consumer plans and driving the technical execution of these plans.”
Charalambides first joined Insider in 2018. At Insider, which is owned by European media company Axel Springer, he led teams that built “a lightning-fast, world-class experience to deliver editorial content to users, backed by a bespoke, robust and performant platform for their growing subscription, syndication and affiliate businesses,” according to Hirsch’s memo.
Before Insider, Charalambides led the engineering organization for Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated and continued to expand his scope at the company to ultimately oversee all of its digital brand technical teams including Time, Entertainment Weekly and People.
Separately Monday, CNN announced to staffers that longtime programming chief Michael Bass is leaving the outlet.
