Mario Ruiz is changing roles at Telemundo. Effective immediately, he is the network’s SVP of Music and Entertainment Projects. He had been SVP, Talent Development & Strategy since joining Telemundo in 2013.
He’ll continue to report to Telemundo President Luis Silberwasser and based in Miami.
In this new position, Ruiz will harness his expertise in the music industry to leverage the network’s existing music properties and talent, and develop new music content and business opportunities across all the company’s platforms.
He’ll be leading the group tasked with discovering new musical talent and forming partnerships with the music industry with the goal of generating revenue and profit opportunities for Telemundo Network, NBC Universo, Telemundo International and the Digital platforms.
Ruiz will work closely with the network’s programming team and Telemundo Studios to create and use musical assets from Telemundo’s scripted series and bio-musical dramas.
This move reinforces Telemundo’s efforts to capitalize on the success and growth of the network’s music-centric franchises such as the “Billboard Latin Music Awards,” “Latin American Music Awards,” “La Voz Kids,” and bio-musical series such as “Celia.”
While SVP of Talent Development & Strategy, Ruiz developed and executed Telemundo’s overall on-air talent business strategy and was instrumental in attracting and signing new talent to Telemundo including Angélica Vale, Lucero, Pedro Fernández, Raul González, Laura Flores, Natalia Jiménez, Blanca Soto, and Daddy Yankee.
Ruiz joined Telemundo from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS), where he was a consultant and executive producer since 2011. He was previously VP of Talent for Univision Networks for 7 years, centralizing the main functions for major on-camera talent amongst Univision, TeleFutura and Galavisión.
Before Univision, Ruiz held several international executive posts at EMI Music Group, including President and CEO at EMI Mexico; VP, Marketing of EMI Music International in London; and Director Artist & Repertoire (A&R) and Marketing for EMI Music Latin America.
