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BossaNova Media has strengthened its acquisitions division with the appointment of former Nat Geo alum Francesca Johnson as Head of Acquisitions and ex DCD Rights execuive Iona Hopper as Acquisitions Manager, a newly created role reporting to Johnson.

The company also confirmed that Lyra Semsedini has been promoted to Acquisitions and Materials Co-ordinator, while current Head of Acquisitions Claire Runham will step down to spend more time with her family.

Johnson joins BossaNova following an 11-year tenure at National Geographic, where she oversaw development and collaborated with commissioning teams on projects for its linear channels and Disney+. She most recently served as EVP of Content at Anyway Content, where she helped build the company’s non-scripted business, and later launched consultancy and financing outfit Table41.

“After a career spanning broadcasting, production, and consulting with indie clients in the UK and internationally, I’m thrilled to be joining the distribution side of the business at BossaNova,” said Johnson. “Paul and the team are known for their innovative approach to financing and deal-making. I can’t wait to see what we achieve together.”

Hopper joins from DCD Rights, where she spent nearly four years in acquisitions, working across scripted and factual programming.

Paul Heaney, CEO and founder of BossaNova said: ‘As a team we are all totally gutted at Runners’ leaving, but we wish her very well and hope to work together again. The role of an acquisitions team in a distribution operation has changed so much in the almost decade we’ve worked together and Runners rode every wave of change from self-commissioning to transforming the sparkling Development Day into what it is today. Iona and Francesca are two people at the forefront of all these changes and we know they’re not coming in for business as usual. Both have very different, complimentary skills and certainly wouldn’t be agreeing to join the brilliant BossaNova team if they didn’t see the huge gap of opportunity on offer for a resourced unscripted distributor in today’s market. Businesses in distribution can only thrive with the right investment, an established community of buyers, producers and an excellent team. We have that. Can’t flipping wait."

Iona Hopper said: "I'm excited to be joining BossaNova at a time when innovative distributors are more important than ever in the content ecosystem. I’ve long admired Paul and the team’s approach to development and deal-making, and I’m really looking forward to getting started with the newly formed acquisitions team!"