Sandra Smester is joining Telemundo in the newly created role of Executive Vice President of Programming and Content Development.
Smester will be responsible for primetime and daytime programming, content acquisitions, program planning and scheduling, and the company’s cable network Universo. She’ll also oversee long and short-term program planning and scheduling, while working closely with future development and current production teams, as well as Telemundo Global Studios.
She’ll be reporting to Ronald Day, President of Entertainment and Content Strategy at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.
Smester was most recently EVP and Chief Content Officer at TV Azteca, where she oversaw content and distribution across the network’s linear and streaming offerings. Before that, she was EVP and General Manager of Azteca UNO.
Smester previously spent almost 20 years at Univision, starting as an intern in 1998 and working her way up the ladder, advancing to EVP of Programming in 2015. She remained in that position until her exit two years later, amid Univision restructuring.