BBCWW poaches Scripps channel boss

Sergei Kuharsky

The US division of BBC Worldwide has hired Sergei Kuharsky as strategy and business development chief, poaching him from Scripps where he was running Food Network.

The move reunites Kuharsky with Worldwide’s US president Ann Sarnoff, with the pair having previously worked together at Nickelodeon.

At Worldwide Kuharsky will be based in New York and identify growth opportunities across North America and lead the development of key properties such as Top Gear, Sherlock and Doctor Who.

“Sergei and I worked together at Nickelodeon to help expand Nick’s brands,” said Ann Sarnoff. “Throughout his career, Sergei has a proven track record of success in building businesses. I can’t think of a better person to help us plot BBC Worldwide North America’s strategy as we grow in the US and Canada.”

In an eight-year stint at Scripps, Kuharsky was running the Food Network as general manager. Prior to that he was across sales and marketing at In Demand Networks and before that was in marketing at Viacom’s kids net Nickelodoen.

Sarnoff took the reins at BBC America, replacing another former Nick exec, Herb Scannell.