Shelly Sumpter Gillyard Named Senior Vice President, Talent, Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Shelly Sumpter Gillyard Named Senior Vice President, Talent, Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Shelly Sumpter Gillyard has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Talent for Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids and Family Group, expanding her current responsibilities to include oversight of all casting and talent relations for The N, the MTV Networks Kids & Family Group network for teens. The announcement was made by Paula Kaplan, Executive Vice President, Talent and West Coast General Manager, Nickelodeon & MTV Networks Kids and Family Group to whom she will report.

(Photo:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071217/NYM064 )

"Shelly is always remarkably plugged into what is cutting-edge among teens and tweens, whether it's in film, music, sports or television," said Kaplan. "As a result, she consistently delivers great talent for our programming and events and, most importantly, for our audience. She's the perfect person to head up talent for The N and we look forward to her bringing her experience and expertise to the channel in her new role."

Based in Santa Monica, California, Ms. Sumpter Gillyard's expanded role as Senior Vice President includes overseeing all talent activities for The N, as the network prepares to expand to 24 hour programming on December 31. Ms. Sumpter Gillyard will be responsible for identifying and developing new talent, casting for new and current series, talent relations and growing the networks' profile in the Hollywood community. She will also continue the day- to-day responsibilities of her current role which include identifying and booking celebrity talent for programming development, current series, pro- social campaigns and special events across all of the MTV Networks Kids & Family Group brands.

A 10-year veteran of Nickelodeon, Ms. Sumpter Gillyard was formerly Vice President, Talent since 2002 and Senior Director, Talent, Nickelodeon since 1999, where she was responsible for booking celebrity talent for all Nickelodeon divisions including television, digital, recreation and consumer products. She has been a driving force in assembling the all-star line-ups, including last year's host Justin Timberlake, for the network's annual Kids' Choice Awards and Mariah Carey and Hilary Duff for pro-social campaigns such as Let's Just Play and The Big Help-a-thon. Ms. Sumpter Gillyard also oversees celebrity stunt casting on Nickelodeon live-action series including iCarly, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, All That and The Amanda Show. She has been instrumental in identifying celebrity talent for the network's TEENick interstitial programming block, securing some of Hollywood's hottest movie stars and musical acts. Ms. Sumpter Gillyard joined the Nickelodeon Talent Department in 1997 as a manager.

Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Ms. Sumpter Gillyard Sumpter was Director of Publicity for The Steven Rifkind Company from 1996 to 1997 where she was responsible for coordinating publicity and promotional efforts for feature films including MGM's Hoodlum, Touchstone's The 6th Man, Orion's 8 Heads In A Duffle Bag and Sprung from Trimark Pictures.

Ms. Sumpter Gillyard began her career at Cathcart Public Relations as an Account Executive where she managed accounts for MCA, Virgin, Loud Records, Columbia Records, Savoy, Rysher Entertainment, Tollin Robbins Productions and Nickelodeon.

Ms. Sumpter Gillyard is a graduate of California State University Northridge with a BA in Radio and Television Production. She currently sits on the Diversity Board of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and is a member of the MTV Networks Kids & Family Group Diversity Team. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Ron Gillyard and their three daughters.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: NewsCom:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071217/NYM064
AP Archive:

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PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Marianne Romano, +1-310-752-8208, Marianne.romano@nick.com, or
Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, Joanna.roses@nick.com, both of Nickelodeon &
MTV Networks Kids & Family Group Corporate Communications

Web site:

http://www.nick.com/

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