MTV Promotes Jason Rzepka to SVP Communications & Public Affairs

Jason Rzepka has taken on a larger role at MTV as Senior Vice President, Brand Communications and Public Affairs it was announced this week by Stephen Friedman, President, MTV and Jeannie Kedas, Executive Vice President, Communications for the Viacom Music Group. In this expanded new position, Rzepka will oversee all corporate communications functions for MTV, including setting external and internal communications strategies for the brand, its various screens and businesses. He will also continue to oversee MTV's Public Affairs department and the strategic direction of all "pro-social" campaigns across MTV, mtvU and MTV's digital properties.

Jennifer Solari has also been named Vice President for Program Publicity and Communications for MTV. Based in Santa Monica, Solari will oversee all the publicity and communications functions for MTV's West Coast office. She joins the company from CBS Television Studios.

Additionally, MTV announced two key promotions with Janice Gatti named Vice President of MTV/MTV2/mtvU Communications and Noopur Agarwal upped to Vice President, MTV Public Affairs. Both previously served as Senior Directors in their respective departments.

"Over the years, Jason has contributed to MTV's overall success in numerous ways, from helping to make mtvU famous to ensuring MTV is always raising the bar and using its 'superpowers for good' - with inspiring and impactful public affairs campaigns," said Friedman. "I am delighted to continue working with him in this broader role and to recognize Noopur's well-deserved promotion. She has been an essential element of much of the public affairs team's success the last several years, and I am excited for her to play an even bigger role moving forward."

"I have always been a huge fan of Jason and am excited to work more closely with him as he takes on this new position," said Kedas. "He is tenacious, creative and thoughtful which makes for a perfect storm of talent." She added, "with Jennifer Solari also joining our team to head up our very busy West Coast communications operations, we are thoroughly set up to lead and execute on some of the most complex, creative and influential media campaigns in entertainment. Jennifer brings an extensive level of experience to MTV and we are all thrilled she's joined us."

Kedas noted, "I am also extremely happy to recognize one of the hardest working communications executives in the industry with Janice's promotion. She has overseen some of the most successful press campaigns at MTV - including those for '16 and Pregnant,' 'Teen Mom,' 'World of Jenks' and the 'mtvU Woodie Awards,' and I am thankful she's on our team every day."

Under Rzepka's leadership, MTV has engaged millions of young people through a range of award-winning campaigns, including: the Peabody-winning "It's Your (Sex) Life," with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which reached over 200 million young people on sexual health issues; the Webby-winning "A Thin Line," which has inspired 1.5 million young people to draw their own line between digital use and digital abuse; and MTV's most recent election campaign "Power of 12." Prior to his most recent role as Senior Vice President, MTV Public Affairs, Rzepka served as the head of communications at the PopTech Institute, a renowned social innovation incubator hatching break-through solutions to some of the world's most intractable social challenges. Before that, he held various communications positions at MTV, mtvU, IMAX Corporation, Ruder Finn and Atomic PR. He serves on the advisory boards of Crisis Text Line and the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council, and the council of Creative Time Ambassadors; previously, he served on the PopTech board of directors. He holds a BA in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

For more than a dozen years, Solari served as Executive Director of Communications at CBS Television Studios where she oversaw publicity campaigns for some of the studio's highest profile series including "CSI," "Medium," "Melrose Place" and "The Talk," among others. Prior to CBS Studios, she worked as Manager of Media Relations for ABC Network Television where she oversaw publicity efforts for such shows as "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" and "Spin City," as well as several films and specials. She started her career at Bender, Goldman, Helper in Consumer Television and graduated from California State University, Long Beach, earning her BA in Journalism and Public Relations.

Since joining MTV in 2008, Gatti has set the communications strategies for numerous award-winning public affairs campaigns; overseen all press operations for mtvU, MTV's 24 hour college network; MTV2 and helped launch such top-rated, cause-related programming as the groundbreaking docu-series "Teen Mom" and "World of Jenks." Prior to joining MTV as a Director, she served as an Account Supervisor at the strategic communications firm Peppercomm. Gatti earned her BA in Mass Media Communications from Florida State University.

Agarwal joined MTV as manager of public affairs for mtvU in 2007. Since then, she has passionately launched and overseen several pro-social campaigns to help engage and activate America's youth on the biggest issues impacting their generation, including: MTV's "Power of 12," the youth voter empowerment campaign; the Peabody Award-winning mtvU mental health campaign "Half of Us;" and the Emmy nominated "mtvU Against Our Will campaign" on human trafficking. Agarwal has been recognized with the MTV Innovation Award, a company-wide honor granted to individuals who have demonstrated unique thinking and a pioneering approach in their work. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA in Economics from Harvard College.

About MTV:
MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy, Grammy and Peabody award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online HUB MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

To post a comment, you must register and login.