Fox Digital Consumer Group president joins NEP as chief operating officer

Jeff Hughes, the former president of Fox Networks’ Digital Consumer Group, has joined NEP as its new chief operating officer (COO).

Effective immediately, Hughes will be responsible for helping the company increase idea sharing across its businesses and expanding NEP’s capabilities.

The COO role is global and covers all of NEP’s operating segments: Broadcast Services, Media Solutions and Live Events. Hughes will be based in Los Angeles, California and report directly to NEP’s chief executive Brian Sullivan, as a member of the executive team.

Discussing the appointment, Sullivan said: “The media industry is experiencing an unprecedented amount of change, with trends like the move to centralised and virtual production accelerating. NEP’s deep experience and technological expertise is perfectly positioned to help customers navigate this change, while leveraging our leadership to grow further and faster.

“The times demand that we have strong global partnerships and client-focused innovation, so it’s important that we have the right people in place to move us forward in those areas. Jeff is knowledgeable, approachable and inspiring as a leader. Having watched his career and seen his work and results first-hand, I’m confident he will be a strong addition to NEP.”

During his time at Fox, Hughes led the complete re-development and modernisation of digital streaming capabilities across all networks within 21st Century Fox. He also developed the company’s first end-to-end commercial platform for direct to consumer (D2C) services across several Fox networks.

Prior to his role at Fox, Hughes was CEO of Omnifone, a B2B operator of music services in over 35 countries. In the mid-2000s, he was Group Director of IT and Strategy at Sky in the UK.

Hughes said: “I am looking forward to meeting our teams worldwide and our customers to learn more about their operating goals and needs, and to help our customers think through how we can help them adapt to the changes we’re seeing. I’m confident that, with the team we have, and the customers we serve, we will continue to lead the industry and have incredible opportunities ahead of us.”

A native of Houston, Texas, Hughes spent nearly 20 years overseas and now lives in Southern California with his wife and two daughters. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Texas Christian University and an MBA from Clemson University. He is an accomplished industry speaker and has served on the Boards of Evergent Technologies and the Los Angeles chapter of the American Heart Association.