Katie Schroeder Jumps To 42West As PR Power Ups Three To EVP, Two To VP

Anthony D'Alessandro
·6 min read

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EXCLUSIVE: 42West has hired former Rubenstein EVP Katie Schroeder as the firm’s EVP of Strategic Communications.

Simultaneously, 42West has promoted Rachel Aberly, Scott Feinstein and Annalee Paulo to EVP and Tara Fitzpatrick Portanova and Megan Zehmer to VP, all in the company’s Entertainment Marketing Division.

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With Fitzpatrick Portanova and Zehmer’s promotions, they join Ashton Fontana, Jodie Magid Oriol, Todd Nickels and Jordan Van Brink as Vice Presidents in the company’s Entertainment Marketing Division.

Schroeder will report to Strategic Communications Division President Susie Arons, while the five report to Entertainment Marketing Division Presidents Susan Ciccone and Tom Piechura.

“Katie is among the most well-respected public relations professionals in the industry, and it will be incredible to bring her talents and expertise to our company. Rachel, Scott and Annalee have been part of our leadership — and a major driving force behind the ongoing success of our company — for many years, and their promotions are richly deserved. Tara and Megan are also an integral part of our team and true future leaders of our industry – they have both been instrumental in overseeing first-rate campaigns, particularly in the TV, streaming and new media arenas,” said Co-CEO’s Leslee Dart and Amanda Lundberg.

At Rubenstein, Schroeder developed PR strategies and media opportunities for a wide array of companies, brands, and organizations – from Rolling Stone to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Her background includes corporate and crisis communications; live entertainment, concerts, and events; New York City agencies; business and brand leaders, and non-profit and charitable organizations. Her past and current clients include Netflix, Skydance, AEG, Televisa, UNCSA, Paramount Pictures, Universal Music Group, AEG, Jimmy Iovine, eOne Entertainment, Viacom, The Bowery Presents, Participant Media, Temple Street Productions, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s “Thanks and Giving” Campaign, NYC & Company (New York’s travel and tourism organization), SONY/ATV, SESAC, MGM, Mandela Day, YouTube, Amazon.com, and Target.

Prior to Rubenstein, Schroeder was Director of PR for Radio City Entertainment, where she oversaw publicity for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular in more than 10 cities; created national publicity opportunities for the Radio City Rockettes; handled press relations for A Christmas Carol at the Theater at Madison Square Garden; and worked more than 350 concerts, events, and attractions at Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden during her tenure. Previously, she worked for Wenner Media, Inc., where she coordinated publicity for Us Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Men’s Journal.

Aberly is a three-year-vet of 42West’s LA office whose specialty is below-the-line talent as well as showrunners, screenwriters and directors with an emphasis on awards campaigns. The craft campaigns she worked on in concert with the studios received a total of 24 Academy Award nominations this past season.

Feinstein has been with 42West since its inception in 2005, starting as an account executive and being named SVP last year. He is based in NYC. He works with a number of distributors, production companies and filmmakers to create and execute their publicity and marketing strategies, as well as the firm’s global film festival operations at Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, Cannes, New York, SXSW and Venice. His clients include Sony Pictures Classics, A24, Focus Features, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, IFC Films, HBO, and filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Bennett Miller, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Sacha Gervasi, Rebecca Miller, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Phyllis Nagy, David Chase, Jon S. Baird, Trudie Styler, Eric Eisner, Joe Lewis, Andrew Heckler, Chad Verdi, as well as actor John Magaro. Prior to 42West he spent three years at Walt Disney Pictures, where he worked on the publicity campaigns for several movies including Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Paulo joined the LA office of 42West in 2005 as a senior executive guiding clients in multiple PR disciplines. She strategizes and executes national campaigns for film, television, streaming, awards, and home entertainment with clients such as A24, Apple TV+, Blumhouse, Focus Features, Disney, GKIDS, HBO, Netflix, Lionsgate, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, MGM, Paramount, Screen Gems, and Shout! Factory. She also leads project campaigns and personal PR for filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Scott Cooper, Destin Daniel Cretton, Roland Emmerich, Paul Greengrass, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Rob Marshall, Phyllis Nagy, Kimberly Peirce, Charles Randolph, Martin Scorsese, Irwin Winkler, and Alice Wu, among others. Her corporate clients include 3BlackDot, Centropolis Entertainment, GKIDS, Hutch Parker Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions, Protozoa Pictures, ReelFX, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, and ShadowMachine. She also leads films and special projects at the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW, WonderCon, and Comic-Con. Previously she worked for AFI Fest, United Artists, and MPRM Communications.

New York-based Fitzpatrick Portanova has worked in Entertainment PR for over a decade, specializing in traditional and digital publicity along with awards campaign strategy for television and film. Recently, she led TV publicity campaigns for Apple TV+’s newest series Servant and Little America, the Amazon Prime award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Seasons 1& 2) as well as The Boys and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (Season 2). Last year she spearheaded the digital film publicity campaign for Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart.

In addition to TV and film, Fitzpatrick Portanova has worked on a multitude of campaigns for content creators including Dan Levy / Schitt’s Creek,Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino, Conan O’Brien & Team Coco, Lauren Iungerich and more. She also serves as an in-house digital strategist for all divisions on both coasts of 42West. Prior to 42West she headed up PR at Mammoth Advertising, where she created strategies for digital and traditional publicity campaigns and consulted for clients from all the major studios. Before Mammoth, Fitzpatrick Portanova ran the east coast publicity operations for Relativity Media and subsequently RED, the joint venture between Relativity Media and EuropaCorp working on over 30 film campaigns. Prior to RED, she spent several years working for Nancy Seltzer & Associates, New Line Cinema and Terry Hines & Associates.

Zehmer has been with 42West for close to five years in LA, where she reps a slate of filmmaker, showrunner and TV campaign clients. Her work representing Dan and Eugene Levy has been instrumental in the rise of Schitt’s Creek over the last few years, including its four Emmy nominations. Other clients include Shawn Levy, Alma Har’el, Paul Feig, Autumn de Wilde, Kari Skogland, Elle Johnson and Lauren Iungerich. She is also currently working the campaigns for Apple TV+ series Servant and Little America.

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