• by Fern Siegel , April 12, 2010

A former Lifetime executive is now a sales chief for the ABC TV Network. Debbie Richman has been named senior vice president of prime-time sales for the Disney-owned network. She will handle shows from "Dancing With the Stars" to "Modern Family."

Richman will report to Geri Wang, president of sales and marketing for ABC TV.

Prior to her ABC appointment, Richman was executive vice president, ad sales, of Lifetime Networks. In that capacity, she supervised all ad sales for Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network, as well as Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime on Demand and Lifetime Digital.

Lifetime Digital, an expanding unit, includes myLifetime.com, LMN.tv, Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com, MothersClick.com and LifetimeMoms.com.

In a release, Wang called her a "star in our business" and touted her "creative thinking," skills that "will serve ABC well."

A longtime sales and agency pro, Richman was named lifetime EVP in 2008. Before that, she was managing director, National Broadcast, at OMD since 2005. During her tenure, Richman created the OMD Summit and was a leader of the OMD National Programming Forum, which educated clients on successful partnerships with content providers.

On the agency side, Richman was also director of national television at Optimum Media, which folded into OMD in 2002. She managed more than 40 blue-chip clients, including Hershey, Universal Pictures, Mobil and McDonald's. Prior to OMD, she held posts at McCann-Erikson, Y&R and O&M.