Lucinda Hicks Appointed Chief Operating Officer, Dragonfly
25th Jan 2013
Dragonfly Film and Television have announced that Shine Group VP, Operations and Business Development, Lucinda Hicks has been appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the BAFTA-winning indie.
Reporting to Dragonfly Managing Director Simon Dickson, Hicks will oversee all commercial, operational and business-related activities at the Shine Group production company behind hit shows including One Born Every Minute, The Hotel, The Plane Crash and What Happens In Kavos.
Since joining Shine in 2010 as VP Global Business Development, Hicks has worked to identify new companies and partnerships for Shine Group, supporting expansion into new territories and genres. Prior to Shine, Hicks has held several strategic roles, serving as Strategy Manager at Channel 4, Strategic and Commercial Manager at FremantleMedia and as a business strategist at the BBC.
She succeeds outgoing COO Steve Nam with the pair undertaking a handover before Hicks takes up the role permanently in March. It was announced that Nam was stepping down from the role in November last year, choosing to leave at the same time as Sanjay Singhal, Dragonfly’s previous Managing Director. Hicks’ Shine Group responsibilities will be assumed by incoming Shine Group Chief Operating Officer Tim Robinson upon commencing his role, also in March.
Simon Dickson said: “Lucinda is one of the best and brightest commercial strategists in British telly today. Throughout our time together at Shine Group she has consistently displayed an innate understanding of our broadcasters’ and partners’ needs - both domestically, and internationally. I am over the moon that she has chosen to help me lead the Dragonfly team at this key moment in our creative evolution”.
Jane Featherstone, Joint Chairman Shine UK said: “Simon is taking Dragonfly from strength to strength and I can’t think of a better person for him to have as a running partner than Lucinda. She is passionate about Dragonfly’s output with the commercial nous and leadership to make them a formidable force.”
Alex Mahon, CEO Shine Group said: “This is a great move for Dragonfly and Lucinda. She is one of the Group’s most talented and collaborative commercial executives and I believe she will truly flourish alongside Simon at Dragonfly.”
Lucinda Hicks said: “I have always hugely respected Dragonfly’s ethos and marvelled at their creativity and output. I am very much looking forward to supporting them and their ambitions moving forward.”
Current Dragonfly series on air include the high profile What Happens In Kavos, The Hotel, and the BAFTA-winning One Born Every Minute (all of which frequently attain the highest share or peak audience for Channel 4 on their night of transmission); alongside the returning My Secret Past for Channel 5 and the forthcoming People Like Us for BBC3. The company recently delivered the high profile The Plane Crash, whose 3.5 million viewers for Channel 4 made it the most watched show in the 9pm slot that day, and Terror at Sea:The Sinking of the Concordia, which attracted 3.4 million viewers on its premiere for Channel 4 before being broadcast across 20 further territories. Dragonfly became part of Shine Group in 2007.