• by Fern Siegel , November 7, 2013

John B. Penney has been upped to chief strategy officer for Starz. He previously worked for CEO Chris Albrecht at HBO, where he was executive vice president of strategy and business development.

Penney will develop strategic initiatives, including partnerships, ventures and innovative models for new business opportunities across the Starz companies. Starz is enhancing its standing since the spinoff from Liberty Media last year.

He continues to report to Albrecht, who called him a "trusted partner" and cited his "deep insight into the global media and entertainment ecosystem."

A longtime Albrecht associate, Penney co-founded Foresee Entertainment with him. There, he handled operations and new business platforms. Before that, he was head of global media strategy for IMPG, focused on the production of programming, including digital.

At HBO, Penney was senior vice president of digital initiatives. He also held posts at ACT, Scient and Viacom.

Before executive stints at Scient and Viacom, Penney spent seven years on Wall Street as an equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, covering the media and entertainment industries, and as a financial analyst in the media group at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Starz provides premium video programming through Starz and Encore pay TV networks. As of September 2013, the duo serve 57 million subscribers. Starz's third network is MoviePlex.