SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflecting the Company's continued growth and evolution, corporate communications executive Joanna Massey has been named to the newly created position of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, it was announced today by Lionsgate Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Executive Communications Peter Wilkes.

Ms. Massey will work closely with Lionsgate's executive team as a corporate spokesperson, help develop and implement corporate media strategies and messaging across the Company's core businesses worldwide, assist with investor relations and management presentations and collaborate on theatrical publicity initiatives.  She reports to Mr. Wilkes for executive communications and investor relations and to Julie Fontaine, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Publicity for the Motion Picture Group, on corporate theatrical publicity.

Ms. Massey has spent more than 20 years working in public relations with extensive experience in corporate communications and publicity.  She headed corporate media relations initiatives as Senior Vice President, Media Relations at UPN and Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Publicity, for the Hub Network, a kids' and family cable network owned by Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro, Inc.   She was also Senior Vice President, Media Relations at CBS, where she was the lead communications executive for CBS's digital media ventures, CBS Mobile and CBS.com.  She began her career at global public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard.

"Joanna has earned a reputation as an experienced communications executive for major entertainment companies, an innovative media strategist and a skilled spokesperson with strong industry relationships," said Mr. Wilkes. "With Lionsgate's evolution into a global content leader, she brings needed depth to our staff and will be invaluable in helping to articulate corporate strategic initiatives and communicate the strengths of our individual businesses."

Ms. Massey earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California (USC), a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Sofia University in Palo Alto, CA.  She is also working toward an MBA at USC's Marshall School of Business.

ABOUT LIONSGATE

Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black and the breakout series The Royals.

Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first three installments of The Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' A Most Wanted Man, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.

Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com

For further information, please contact:

Peter D. Wilkes
(310) 255-3726
pwilkes@lionsgate.com

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SOURCE Lionsgate