Yahoo Finance Courtney D. Armstrong Tapped As Paramount President Of Business Affairs And Administration
Courtney D. Armstrong is joining Paramount Pictures as President, Business Affairs and Administration. In this role, Armstrong will oversee business and legal affairs for all of the studio’s live action and animation production divisions. Additionally, he will also lead the studio’s business development team. In that capacity, he will not only oversee the analysis and evaluation of all new business opportunities for Paramount, but will work on the company’s strategic planning activities.
Sources say Stephen Plum, Sr EVP of Business & Legal Affairs, and Jay Galston, EVP of Strategic Planning & Business Development, are leaving the company. Below is the internal email from COO Andrew Gumpert, which includes the below excerpt:
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Dear All,
I am writing to let you know about some changes to our Motion Picture Business & Legal Affairs Group, as well as to our Business Development Group. I am thrilled to share that Courtney D. Armstrong will be joining the studio as President, Business Affairs and Administration, reporting to me. In this role, Courtney will not only oversee all of the studio’s business and legal affairs divisions, but also the studio’s business development group. In this capacity as the head of business development, he will not only oversee the analysis and evaluation of all new business opportunities for Paramount, but will work on the company’s strategic planning activities. He is a proven standout as both a leader and business and legal mind and will be a huge asset and addition to the company. Please join me in extending a very warm welcome to him.
I would also like to share that Senior Executive Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs Stephen Plum and Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development Jay Galston will be leaving the company. Stephen and Jay have been critical strategic executives in both steering the company to profitability and building out our film slate, and their work on behalf of Paramount has been immensely impactful. They have both been valued colleagues and leaders during their time here, and we thank them for their years of service and many positive contributions to the company.
Courtney joins us from Warner Bros. Pictures where he was an executive since 2003, most recently serving as executive vice president of worldwide business affairs. During his time at Warner Bros., he was instrumental in a number of critical and commercial successes including Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, The Dark Knight trilogy, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grinewald, The Lego Batman Movie, Justice League, Ready Player One, Ocean’s 8 and many others.
Prior to joining Warner Bros., Courtney was an attorney in the Business and Legal Affairs division of the Motion Picture Group at Walt Disney Pictures. Before that, he was a litigation associate on the entertainment litigation team at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walter, LLP.
He is a graduate from Northwestern University, as well as from Northwestern University School of Law and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, from which he received his bachelor’s degree, juris doctor and master’s degree in business administration, respectively.
He is also a member of Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees, an executive committee board member of the Law Board at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, a member of the Executive Leadership Council, and a member of the executive branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Once again, please join me in welcoming Courtney and thanking Stephen and Jay.
All my best,
Andrew
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