Shine Group has appointed former News International, HIT Entertainment and Chorion executive Lori Heiss to the newly-created position of global brand manager. 

In her new role, Heiss will be responsible for the ongoing global strategy for Shine Group-owned brands. Her initial focus will be on MasterChef, a program now produced locally in 20 territories, which airs in 145, and whose popularity has spawned brand extensions worldwide, including live events, publishing, consumer goods and recently launched app MasterChef Academy. Licenses launched include traditional publishing and DVDs to pots, pans and wines. Last weekend saw the second year of MasterChef Live in London’s Olympia, which attracted more than 30,000 attendees across three days in the capital.

Based in Shine Group’s London offices, Heiss will start this January and will report to Alex Mahon, Shine Group’s president, who says, “Lori is an exceptional marketer and licensor, who has successfully guided some of the best known and most loved characters and programs into partnerships that are profitable, suitable and sustainable. MasterChef has enjoyed great success in the off-air activity undertaken to date, but has phenomenal further potential that Lori is ideally suited to help us realize on a global level.”