Yahoo Lifestyle CAA Promotes 14 To Agent/Executive
CAA on Wednesday announced its promotion of 14 trainees from the agency’s Elevate program, 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.
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.
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Adamopoulos has been upped to Executive in Property Sales at CAA Sports APAC, a role that will have her building and executing commercial partnerships for global rights holders in Formula 1, soccer, golf, tennis, baseball, basketball and Esports.
Brooke has been promoted to Executive in Property Sales at CAA Sports, where he will focus on building brand partnerships for global rights holders in Formula 1, soccer, golf, tennis, and Esports.
Gianino, Shepanek and White have been promoted to Motion Picture Talent Agent, with Leffler being promoted to Motion Picture Literary Agent, and Sibley being upped to Agent in the TV Lit department. Goldish, Jensen, and Valentyn, meanwhile, have been promoted to Agent in Music Touring.
Patterson has been promoted to Agent in the Games department, whereas Pisterzi has been promoted to Agent in CAA’s Comedy Touring department, and Woodard has been promoted to Agent in the Theatre department.
Based in London, Acutt joined CAA Sports in 2021 and was accepted into 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.
Based in Singapore, Adamopoulos joined CAA Sports APAC in 2022 and was accepted into Elevate the following year. Previously, she worked in commercial roles at ONE Championship and IMG.
Based in London, Brooke 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 into Elevate in 2024.
The L.A.-based Gianino began his career in the CAA mailroom in 2019 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. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he was accepted into Elevate in 2023.
Nashville-based Goldish started at CAA as a floater in the Music department in 2019. He 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 with a degree in Economics in 2019.
Based in Nashville, Jensen joined CAA as an assistant in 2022 and most recently served as a coordinator before being elevated to booking professional in 2024. He was also accepted into Elevate last year and 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.
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.
Also based in Los Angeles, Patterson 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 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 joined 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. He was accepted into Elevate last year and is based in Los Angeles.
The L.A.-based Sibley began his career at CAA as a mailroom clerk in 2019 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.
Based in Los Angeles, Valentyn started at CAA as an assistant in 2019. 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 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.
Based in New York City, Woodard joined the agency 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 as Theatre Agent, 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.
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