Podcast Network Wondery Hires Jen Sargent, Former Uproxx and HitFix Boss, as COO

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Jen Sargent, co-founder of entertainment site HitFix and former CEO of Uproxx Media Group, has joined podcast-network startup Wondery as chief operating officer.

At L.A.-based , Sargent is tasked with expanding the podcaster’s audience and revenue streaming, including overseeing the company’s Wondery+ director-to-consumer service and developing TV, book and film projects from its library of podcast programs.

Most recently, Sargent was president of Uproxx, overseeing strategy, partnerships, operations and revenue generation. She joined Uproxx when the digital-media company (then called Woven Digital) acquired HitFix in 2016 and subsequently folded HitFix into the Uproxx site.

“Jen has enviable experience spanning startups and massive global media companies, traditional and new media, consumer and business, and is a founder herself,” Wondery founder and CEO Hernan Lopez said in a statement.

Lopez, former CEO of Fox International Channels, founded Wondery in 2016 with an investment from 20th Century Fox. Other investors include venture-capital firms Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital, BAM Ventures, Water Tower Ventures, and BDMI.

Wondery’s top podcasts include “Dirty John,” “Business Wars,” “American History Tellers” and “Inside Jaws.”

“It is clear that podcasts are the future of storytelling and, as such, will play a massive role in the future of digital media,” Sargent said in a statement. Prior to co-founding HitFix, Sargent worked at companies including Reed Business Information, BV Capital/Bertelsmann Ventures, DoubleClick and J.P. Morgan.