Rosalyn Durant Named Vice President and General Manager of ESPNU

Rosalyn Durant has been named ESPNU vice president and general manager; it was announced today by David Berson, ESPN executive vice president, program planning and strategy. Durant, who previously served as ESPN vice president, programming and acquisitions for a variety of sport categories, including the NBA, will report to Berson.  She succeeds Burke Magnus, who was recently promoted to ESPN senior vice president, college sports programming. 

In her new role, Durant will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, including overseeing all programming and leading the inter-departmental team responsible for the continued growth and development of the network and related multi-media initiatives.

Since ESPNU’s launch in March of 2005, the network has grown from 2.5 million households to over 20 million.

Berson said,” Rosalyn's combined work experience with our programming and affiliate sales teams will serve a great attribute in the continued success story of ESPNU.  Her proven track record and focus on leadership, team building and relationship management will greatly benefit our ESPNU efforts going forward.” 

Durant Bio Information                                                                                                                                                Rosalyn Durant was promoted to vice president, programming and acquisitions in June 2007.  In that role, she managed the NBA including ESPN's multimedia NBA negotiation and extension through 2016, Major League Lacrosse, Major League Soccer, FIFA, UEFA, US Soccer and Olympic sport leagues.

Durant began her professional career at ESPN as an intern in affiliate sales and marketing in the summer of 1998. She joined that department full-time in 1999 as a coordinator.  She rapidly advanced – becoming regional account executive (January 2000); account executive, southeast region (June 2000); senior account executive, western division (March 2002); manager national accounts (October 2004), senior director, national accounts (October 2005).  In February 2006, she transferred to the programming department as a senior director, programming. 

Durant was graduated in 1999 from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in marketing.  While in college, Durant was an on-air personality with WYNN-FM from June 1996 to May 1998 and a news reporter/anchor with WCFG-TV and WUSC-FM from August 1998 to December 1998.  In addition, she also was a marketing and business relations intern with Turner Broadcasting Systems in summer 1997.

To access and download Durant's photo, please click here.

About ESPNU

ESPNU was launched on March 4, 2005.  The network features extensive studio programming and live coverage of games, including college football, college basketball and other Olympic sports from over 20 Division I conferences.

ESPNU currently reaches 20 million homes through secured distribution agreements with Charter, Cox, DIRECTV (Channel 609), EchoStar’s DISH Network (Channel 148), AT&T, Insight Communications, Mediacom, Time Warner, Verizon, hundreds of smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with many others. 

In addition, ESPNU.com, the companion to the ESPNU college sports television network, is the online destination for college sports content, including news, information, extensive online video and audio and more. 

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