CAA Promotes 14 to Agent/Executive

Katcy Stephan

20 February 2025 at 12:30 pm·6-min read

CAA has promoted 14 Elevate trainees, including Oliver Acutt, Lianne Adamopoulos, Thomas Brooke, Michael Gianino, Ethan Goldish, Cam Jensen, Drew Leffler, Cooper Patterson, Marisa Pisterzi, Landon Shepanek, Ben Sibley, Dom Valentyn, Ryder White and Kennedy Woodard, to Agent or Executive.

Acutt has been promoted to Executive in Sports Talent Sales, where he will focus on building and managing digital brand partnerships for CAA Sports’ talent roster, in addition to overseeing content creation, social media management, and strategy. Based in London, Acutt joined CAA Sports in 2021 as a professional and was accepted in to Elevate in 2023. Previously he worked for 2016 F1 World Champion, Nico Rosberg, building his in-house production team and digital strategy. Acutt graduated from Chichester University with a degree in Sports Business & Management in 2017.

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Based in Singapore, Adamopoulos has been promoted to Executive in Property Sales at CAA Sports APAC. In this role, Adamopoulos will build and execute commercial partnerships for global rights holders in Formula 1, soccer, golf, tennis, baseball, basketball and Esports. Adamopoulos joined CAA Sports APAC as a professional in 2022, and was accepted to Elevate in 2023. Previously, she worked in commercial roles at ONE Championship and IMG.

Brooke has been promoted to Executive in Property Sales at CAA Sports. Based in London, Brooke will focus on building brand partnerships for global rights holders in Formula 1, soccer, golf, tennis, and Esports. He began his career at IMG and joined CAA Sports as an assistant to Weronika Abramowicz and Charlie Dixon in 2021 before being elevated to professional in 2023. He was accepted in to Elevate in 2024.

Los Angeles-based Gianino has been promoted to Motion Picture Talent Agent. In 2019, Gianino began his career at CAA in the mailroom before moving into the Motion Picture Talent department as an assistant to Joel Lubin, a Managing Director and Head of CAA’s Motion Picture Group. He was accepted into Elevate in 2023. Gianino graduated from the University of Georgia.

Nashville-based Goldish has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Music Touring department. He started at CAA in 2019 as a floater in the Music department, and later served as an assistant to Steve Kaul, Brad Bissell, and Jeff Krones, before being promoted to booking professional in 2022. He has been actively involved in the PENCIL Foundation as part of the Emerging Leaders Board and was accepted into Elevate in July 2024. He graduated from Duke University in 2019 with a degree in Economics.

Jensen has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Music Touring department. Based in Nashville, he joined CAA in 2022 as an assistant and most recently served as a coordinator before being elevated to booking professional in 2024. He currently oversees the Southeast club territory for CAA’s touring division. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, before going on to complete his MBA at The Citadel Graduate College. He was accepted into Elevate in October 2024.

Leffler has been promoted to Motion Picture Literary Agent. Leffler joined the agency in 2021 and was accepted into Elevate in September 2023. He most recently was an assistant to Dan Rabinow, CAA Board Member and Co-Head of the Motion Picture Literary department. Leffler earned a degree in History and French from Occidental College and is based in Los Angeles.

Patterson has been promoted to Agent in the Games department in Los Angeles. He joined CAA in 2021 as an assistant to Matthew Cohen, and later, Derek Douglas, before being promoted to coordinator in 2023. He was accepted into Elevate in July 2024. Before CAA, Patterson worked on various democratic political campaigns. He holds a degree in Political Science from The George Washington University.

Pisterzi has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Comedy Touring department in Los Angeles. She began her career at CAA in 2021 as an assistant to Justin Edbrooke and Ethan Kurtzman, later supporting Matt Blake, and most recently served as a booking professional. She was accepted into Elevate in 2024. She graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 2020 with degrees in Journalism and Political Science.

Shepanek has been promoted to Motion Picture Talent Agent. Shepanek joined CAA in 2017 following his graduation from the University of Arizona with a degree in Film Producing and Business Administration. He worked as an assistant to Motion Picture Talent agents Fred Specktor and Jimmy Darmody before being named the department coordinator in 2022. In 2024, he was accepted into Elevate. He is based in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles-based Sibley was promoted to Agent in the Television Literary department, where he will work on behalf of many of the world’s leading writers, directors, and producers. Sibley began his career at CAA in 2019 as a mailroom clerk before serving as an assistant to Managing Director Tiffany Ward, and subsequently Head of Television Literary Praveen Pandian. He was promoted to Coordinator in 2023, and accepted into Elevate later that year. Sibley graduated from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, where he also minored in Legal Studies and Film.

Valentyn has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Music Touring department. He started at CAA in 2019 as an assistant and is based in Los Angeles. He was promoted to coordinator in 2023. Prior to joining CAA, he gained experience in artist management at Red Light Management and as an account manager at Playlist Push. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2017 with degrees in Communications and Political Science, as well as a minor in Entrepreneurship.

White has been promoted to Motion Picture Talent Agent. White joined CAA in 2017 as an assistant to Craig Gering in the Motion Picture Literary department. He later worked for CAA CEO and Co-Chairman Bryan Lourd from 2018 to 2022 before being accepted into Elevate in 2021. As an agent trainee, he worked for Zach Kaplan in the Motion Picture Talent department. White holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and is based in Los Angeles.

Woodard has been promoted to Agent in the Theatre department. Based in New York City, she joined CAA in 2021 as assistant to Olivier Sultan and was promoted to coordinator in 2022. She was accepted into Elevate in 2023. Woodard graduated from the University of Texas in 2021 with a degree in Theater. In her new role, she will continue to work with writers, actors, directors, composers, choreographers, and other theatre artists to help put together award-winning plays and musicals on stages around the world, as well as aid in developing film and television projects originating from the theatre space.

CAA Elevate is the agency’s next-generation training and practical development curriculum with an emphasis on entrepreneurialism, inclusion, curiosity, collaboration, service, and a growth mindset. Building upon the rich heritage of the agency’s historical Training Program, and reimagined for today’s rapidly changing world, CAA Elevate was designed to cultivate best practices, encourage innovation, foster global strategic-thinking, and nurture the talents of CAA’s agents and executives in training.

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