Cast & Crew–a leading provider of software and services to the entertainment industry, covering payroll & human resources, accounting and financial management, workflow and productivity–has named Graham Younger as its chief commercial officer. In the newly formed role, Younger will report directly to Eric Belcher, the company’s CEO, and will be responsible for driving the company’s commercial strategy, overseeing the functions of sales, marketing, digital product adoption and implementation. The appointment of Younger aligns with the mission of EQT, the differentiated global investment organization which recently purchased Cast & Crew. EQT has enabled Cast & Crew to take its suite of offerings to the next level while maintaining its reputation for excellent service. Younger joins Cast & Crew from Namely (a payroll and human resources software company), where he was president and chief revenue officer. He has more than 20 years of experience in driving business-process improvements and growth within the software and entertainment industries. He began his career in enterprise sales for IBM and Oracle before joining British software company Cramer to lead their Channels and Alliances teams. Following a successful acquisition by Amdocs, he rejoined Oracle to run a global business unit before stepping into a high-growth opportunity at SuccessFactors. As SVP and GM, he was responsible for its global HCM business including sales structure, operations, marketing and revenue growth. During his tenure SuccessFactors was acquired by SAP for $3.4 billion. In 2014, Younger joined another high-growth company Box, where he was responsible for all revenue and global execution as EVP of worldwide field operations, growing revenue from $100 million to $380 million as well as through a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015. He then joined DreamWorks NOVA, a division of DreamWorks Animation, as president and COO….
Maggie Smith, Star of Stage, Film and “Downton Abbey,” Dies At 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs. Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies. She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that "when you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything." Smith drily summarized her later roles as "a gallery of grotesques," including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: "Harry Potter is my pension." Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of "Suddenly Last Summer," said she was "intellectually the smartest actress I've ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith." "Jean Brodie," in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for "California Suite" in 1978, Golden Globes for "California Suite" and "Room with a View," and BAFTAs for lead actress in "A Private Function" in 1984, "A Room with a View" in... Read More