Gravity Media Bolsters EMEA Business Development Team with Key Hires

As part of the ongoing global expansion of Gravity Media, the EMEA Business Development team, led by director of BD, Blair Wood, has continued its investment in the best broadcast and media talent with the arrivals of Beth Lowney as business development manager and Claire Downey as technical producer – proposals, as well as internal promotions for Katie Tookey as proposals manager – production and Osaro Ewansiha as proposals researcher. 

Blair Wood Gravity Media’s director of business development says about the new team additions: “As we continue to grow behind the end-to-end Gravity Media brand, we have gradually and patiently been looking for the right talent to ensure our business development team can truly harness the full capabilities of the EMEA business for both new and existing clients. I am delighted we have been able to attract people of Beth and Claire’s calibre, along with promoting great people from within, to create a really diverse set of skills and experience within business development. The expanded team has already delivered some captivating new projects, branching into different markets in the process, and there are more on the way over the coming months. It is exciting times at Gravity Media, with a number of major new partners coming on the journey with us, and we look forward to welcoming many more.” 

Beth Lowney was previously at the International Tennis Federation for over eight years, where she headed up the Broadcast Team. Beth was involved in working with the rights holders for the Davis Cup - the largest annual international team competition in sport, with the Billie Jean King Cup being the equivalent in women’s sport. 

During her time with the ITF, Beth worked with over 75 broadcasters in over 175 territories. She was responsible for international production & distribution for the Davis Cup & Billie Jean King Cup competitions. She also worked closely with Kosmos on the reformat of the Davis Cup as well as heading up the media rights and distribution for the inaugural Billie Jean King Cup Finals, working closely with Gravity Media prior to joining. 

Her new Gravity Media role of business development manager means she will work across Outside Broadcast and Projects. She will be account managing key client relationships as well as dedicating her time to the growth of new business. 

Beth Lowney says on joining Gravity Media: “Knowing the Gravity team and working directly with them on a very successful Billie Jean King Cup Finals, I am delighted to be part of this experienced Business Development unit. Having worked on the rights holder side of sport in Media Rights and Production, I am excited to bring a different perspective and start working with such an innovative and growing company.” 

Another recent appointment has seen Claire Downey join the Gravity Media team as technical producer - proposals. Claire arrives as an expert in live sports productions, particularly outside broadcasts, having worked in the industry for almost 10 years. Most recently she worked for Aurora Media Worldwide as a technical broadcast manager on Formula E, supporting the delivery of all programme feeds and servicing international rights holders.  

Claire’s career has also seen her work for Deltatre, where she project managed & provided technical support for many clients including UEFA, Channel 4 (Paralympics coverage), European Tour and EPCR before she joined WTA Media at DAZN. There she was part of the team that set-up the project and spent four years working onsite at WTA tennis tournaments as a Broadcast Technical Manager. She was responsible for planning & delivering all the technical aspects of WTA Media host broadcasts with an emphasis on technical soundness, high production quality, partner collaboration and client support. 

Claire Downey says on her new Gravity Media role: “In previous roles, I had the pleasure of working with Gravity Media’s talented engineers on outside broadcasts. It is a company that I have always admired, an industry leader that is constantly looking to evolve, innovate and expand and one I am delighted to join, especially at such an exciting time for the business. I look forward to using my skills to develop the very best in technical broadcast services for our existing and future clients.” 

Ed Tischler, Gravity Media’s MD – EMEA adds: “We are poised to have one of our best years ahead and, with Blair’s dynamic and extremely experienced new look team, we can ensure the best client and project management every step of the way.”