Ellana Lee to take on expanded role as head of newly created CNN Global Productions team

HONG KONG, May 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CNN's head of Asia Pacific, Ellana Lee, has been elevated to the newly created global role of Group Senior Vice President, General Manager APAC, and Global Head of Productions, overseeing a brand-new team at CNN that will handle all aspects of multi-platform sponsored content at the network alongside her existing editorial responsibilities.

In a CNN career spanning 25 years, most recently as SVP, Managing Editor Asia Pacific, & Global Head of Features Content, Lee has pioneered its highly successful approach to feature content, including major initiatives such as its award-winning Call to Earth.

Effective immediately, Lee's expanded role will see her guide a new Global Productions team, focused on developing and producing sponsored content across all platforms, and see the creation of new roles in the United States to strengthen and expand the existing Features team, currently based across Atlanta, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and London.

Mike McCarthy, Managing Editor, CNN Worldwide, said: "Under Ellana's leadership, our Features team has consistently innovated, delivering award-winning, multi-platform, editorially robust and engaging feature content that has attracted commercial partnerships with some of the world's most dynamic and successful brands.  She will now bring that experience, creativity and skill to bear across the network, working in tandem with our digital, TV, product, programming, marketing, communications, and commercial teams globally."

Lee, as the most senior executive outside the United States, will continue to be based at CNN's Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. As head of the Asia Pacific region, she will also continue to shape CNN's editorial output there, with overall responsibility for its slate of award-winning programming as well as its roster of correspondents and newsgathering teams across eight editorial operations.