Federated Media Names Deanna Brown President

Deanna Brown is leaving her post as president of the Interactive Group at Scripps Network to become the first president and COO at Federated Media.

Brown will work closely with founder and CEO John Batelle, who until recently held the president title as well, to help evolve FM from a display ad network to a “next-generation media and publishing company,” spokesman Matthew DiPietro said.

“She’s John’s new partner, essentially,” DiPietro said, someone who ” has the chops to run a major media company while freeing up John to do what he does best, which is act as the real visionary for the company.”

At Scripps, Brown oversees the online presence for flagship brands HGTV and the Food Network. She joined Scripps in 2007 after a stint as general manager of Yahoo Media Group’s Lifestyles business unit. Before that she was president and general manager of the Life Management division of AOL.

FM has “always been at the forefront of the next big thing, and they’ve always taken their responsibilities toward marketers and their partner sites seriously,” Brown said in a statement.

FM’s current COO, Jason Weisberger, is leaving to become president and COO of mobile video company Transpera. DiPietro classified the departure as friendly as said Weisberger remained “an honored colleague.”

Earlier this year, FM laid off seven employees as part of its shift away from display, and said at the time that it planed to hire several new staffers to support its conversational and strategic marketing services.