BURBANK, Calif.—Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) has added to its Technology leadership team, with the addition of two new vice presidents, Catherine Ray (vice president, design services, DMED Technology) and Brian Marshall (vice president of sports products & strategy, DMED Technology).
Ray and Marshall join a team of technologists, engineers, designers and developers under CTO Aaron LaBerge that is charged with inventing, building and managing the technology, systems, products and platforms that bring Disney’s brands and content to consumers around the world, the company said.
As vice president of sports products & strategy, DMED Technology, Marshall is responsible for leading the sports product team and helping shape the development strategy for the industry-leading ESPN digital product portfolio.
He and his team will partner with the leadership at both ESPN and DMED, and work with DMED engineering and design teams to enhance the sport fan’s digital experience and built growth for ESPN App, ESPN+, ESPN.com, Fantasy Games and other digital sports products.
The ESPN digital platform is the number one digital sports platform in the U.S. and globally, reaching nearly 155 million people around the world each month. Marshall will report to Mike White, senior vice president consumer experiences & platforms, DMED Technology, the company said.
“Brian’s addition to our team comes at an incredibly exciting time and brings together a number of the top product leaders from the world’s two most successful digital sports platforms,” said White. “He has a well-earned reputation as both an immensely talented technologist and a trusted and respected leader, with a passion for creating great products and a track record of building fantastic teams and growing and developing great talent.”
Marshall joins DMED Technology from Yahoo / Verizon Media Group, where he was most recently vice president of product management, leading product development and strategy teams for both Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Finance. For 20 years, he was both an admirer and competitor with the ESPN digital platform, playing a key role in building Yahoo! Sports into the number two sports and fantasy games platform, while also building Yahoo! Finance into a global business and finance news leader, the company said.
As vice president, design services at DMED Technology, Catherine Ray will lead a team that develops the design and UX building blocks and insights that help activate a brand's identity, purpose, and expression. Under her leadership, a team of designers apply their creative talents – graphic, motion and visual design, as well as UX copywriting, engineering and research – to elevate the craft and quality of design and enable best-in-class product experiences across a portfolio for such brands as ABC, ABC News, Disney, ESPN, FX, Freeform, Marvel, National Geographic and more. She will report to Tagu Kato, DMED Technology’s vice president of design.
“Catherine brings an unparalleled creative vision that she’s honed by working across global technology brands,” Kato shared. “Her team will deliver thoughtful, cohesive, and innovative designs and insights that will enable the delivery of inspired experiences across a portfolio of Disney brands and enterprise products that are truly unique and beloved.”
Ray joins DMED from Facebook, where she was most recently creative director, Design and spent four years as a leader in the design and implementation of brand identity systems. Previously, she worked at Uber where she played a key role in creating design systems for the brand and its sub-brands, while working with creative, strategy, communications, and product teams to ship work across channels.
The DMED Technology team is responsible for the design, development and deployment of a portfolio of dozens of consumer-facing digital products globally; advertising technology and products; software and media engineering across a wide range of the company’s products and businesses; development and operation of the Company’s next-generation content supply chain; global network, studio and production operations for The Walt Disney Company’s television networks; creation and development of next-generation video and audio platforms; and the ongoing development and operation of several of the most sophisticated media production and distribution facilities in the world.
