Rosalyn Durant was promoted to vice president and general manager of ESPNU in April 2008. Her day-to-day responsibilities include setting the strategic direction for the 24-hour college sports network, including overseeing all programming and leading the inter-departmental team responsible for the continued growth and development of the network and related multi-media initiatives. Prior to her current role, Durant was vice president of programming and acquisitions. In that position, she managed ESPN’s relationships with the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Lacrosse, Major League Soccer, FIFA, UEFA, US Soccer and Olympic sport leagues. Durant played a significant role in the eight-year contract extension with the NBA announced in June 2007, which began during the 2008-09 season and includes ESPN’s most-comprehensive digital rights package negotiated with any major professional sports league. That deal also includes more exclusivity in the post-season on ESPN and expanded television and digital media rights for ESPN International. Durant is responsible for maximizing the value of ESPNU properties across the company’s multimedia assets, including television, Internet, radio, print, broadband and wireless. Her duties extend to daily interaction with all facets of ESPN’s business: remote and studio production, customer marketing and sales, affiliate sales and marketing, consumer marketing, research, legal, communications and finance. In addition to her daily responsibilities, Durant is also an active participant within the ESPN mentor advisory team among serving on various additional company-wide committees. After interning with ESPN in affiliate sales and marketing in the summer of 1998, Durant joined that department full-time in 1999 as a coordinator. She rapidly advanced – becoming regional account executive (January 2000); account executive, southeast region (June 2000); senior account executive, western division (March 2002); and manager, national accounts (October 2004), senior director, national accounts (October 2005). In February 2006, she transferred to the programming department as a senior director, programming. Durant was graduated in 1999 from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in marketing. While in college, Durant was an on-air personality with WYNN-FM from June 1996 to May 1998 and a news reporter/anchor with WCFG-TV and WUSC-FM from August 1998 to December 1998. In addition, she also was a marketing and business relations intern with Turner Broadcasting Systems in summer 1997.
