Alessandri makes move

Turnkey Search has beefed up its executive ranks by hiring longtime media executive Rick Alessandri as managing director and general manager. Alessandri, who has 35 years in the media business at companies including ESPN and Univision, will oversee talent recruitment and executive search for Turnkey and will lead the company’s expansion into media, digital and tech businesses.

“We have done some work in media, but we never really focused on it,” Turnkey CEO Len Perna said. “We have a lot of team clients and properties that operate as mini media companies in their own right. We keep getting more requests for videographers, editors, writers.”

Allessandri

To that end, Alessandri will be working with leagues, teams, venues, events and tours as much as he will with traditional media companies.

Alessandri was an executive vice president of enterprise development at Univision from 2012 until June 2018, where he focused on new business development, licensing and direct-to-consumer businesses. Previously, he spent 20 years at Disney and ESPN, where he had a number of jobs including chief of staff to former president George Bodenheimer and overseeing the X Games.

“My focus will be on leveraging my 35 years of sports and entertainment — those relationships with people I’ve grown up with through the years are now in senior positions,” Alessandri said.

“He gets along with everybody,” Perna said. “Plus, he’s wired to the hilt from all his years in the business.”