Ben Braun and Santiago Capdepont join the Universal Brand Development team to assist in the company’s financial planning and operational excellence.

NORTH AMERICA–Universal Brand Development has hired two new executives–Ben Braun and Santiago Capdepont–to broaden its executive leadership team.

Braun, who formerly served as Universal Pictures’ former senior vice president of strategic planning, joins the Brand Development team as chief financial officer. In his new role, he will be responsible for managing the financial planning and analytics team as well as controllership and business development.

Before joining Universal, Braun was head of business and corporative development for DreamWorks Animation. He also spent 9 years as an investment banker at Morgan Stanely, where he most recently served as executive director.

Meanwhile, Capdepont has been named to the newly created role of senior vice president, head of operations, for Brand Development. In this position, he will manage operational excellence and process building within the business units including stakeholder management, systems implementation and strategic planning.

Prior to Universal, Capdepont held numerous positions at The Walt Disney Company, including chief financial officer of Disney Stores globally.

“The continued growth of our organization, which includes new businesses, departments and international offices gives us the opportunity to broaden our leadership bench by adding expertise and depth to our senior team,” says Vince Klaseus, president, Universal Brand Development. “Ben joining our team allows us to strengthen our financial analytic capabilities and provide data-driving analysis of our business on a global scale, and Santi’s wide-ranging consumer products background will help us continue to build the international organization worldwide.”