ESPN made big changes to its talent office, promoting ROB SAVINELLI to VP/Talent Negotiations, where he will run the department that recruits and retains on-air personalities. Savinelli will report to ESPN Senior VP/Production Business Divisions TRAUG KELLER, who adds the talent office to his slate, which also includes ESPN Audio and ESPN Local. Senior VP/Production MO DAVENPORT, who had been running the department since October '14, now will focus on Disney’s involvement with the Special Olympics and ESPY Day. LEAH LAPLACA, who had been in the talent office since December '14, now becomes VP/espnW, Growth Initiatives. ESPN has seen some high-profile talent defections in recent weeks, including its top play-by-play voice MIKE TIRICO, who is moving to NBC, and one of its top studio hosts SKIP BAYLESS, who is moving to Fox. In the last 12 months, ESPN has signed agreements with close to 200 people. ESPN Exec VP/Production & Programming JOHN WILDHACK told a company blog last month that more than 95% of ESPN talent has remained at the company.
