C. Douglas Kranwinkle, Univision’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, is leaving the company after 12 years. Univision today announced his retirement and his replacement: Jonathan Schwartz, who will assume the role of General Counsel.
The 72-year-old Kranwinkle, who is based in Los Angeles, was one of a few top execs who stayed on with the Spanish-language media company after it was sold in 2007 to an investor group led by current Univision Executive Chairman Haim Saban.
Kranwinkle was also key in helping negotiate an end to the legal disputes between Univision and Televisa, which reached an out of court settlement in 2009.
New hire Schwartz, 51, who steps into his new role on Dec. 1, will be based in New York and report to Univision President and CEO Randy Falco. Prior to joining Univision, Schwartz spent the last 3 years as General Counsel of JP Morgan’s Investment Bank.
Before JPMorgan, Schwartz was General Counsel at Cablevision Systems. He previously worked at Time Warner Inc. and online music company Napster. Earlier in his career, he worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York before joining the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Univision also announced that Phyllis Verdugo, a 15-year veteran of Univision and currently the Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, will relocate to New York.