Entertainment Partners Names Chris Gratton UK Boss — SkimNews
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- Chris Gratton was named Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Entertainment Partners' UK business, effective immediately.
- Gratton will lead EP's UK operations as the company pushes its integrated production technology offering into the British market, with Gratton working closely with EP's global leadership team from the London office.
- EP recently launched its SmartStart digital onboarding and SmartTime timecard solutions in the UK, adding to its existing UK production finance, payroll, and production management technology capabilities.
- Gratton joins from Ticketmaster Sport, where as Managing Director he helped create the first-ever league-wide deal across Premiership Rugby and launched a centralized rugby marketplace.
- His earlier career includes leadership roles at FleishmanHillard, Octagon, and Leo Burnett, working across sponsorship, marketing, and integrated campaigns.
- EP President and CEO Markham L. Goldstein said Gratton brings 'entertainment industry experience, commercial leadership and a deep understanding of how technology can help industries evolve.'
- Gratton described EP as 'a leading company that sits at the intersection of technology and entertainment,' saying he wants to 'help define the next chapter for the business and the industry.'
Why it matters: EP is installing a hire with no production payroll background — Gratton's track record is sports ticketing and ad agencies — to run its UK entertainment payroll and production management business, a bet that his tech-adoption experience from Ticketmaster Sport will translate as SmartStart and SmartTime scale across British productions.
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