BuzzFeed‘s video and entertainment group is seeing another high-level departure: Michelle Kempner, VP of operations for BuzzFeed Entertainment Group, is leaving the company to take a marketing role at Facebook.
Kempner is joining Facebook as a leader on the product marketing team, focusing on video products that foster communities. She also will be supporting Facebook’s outreach and support for individual creators.
A four-and-a-half-year veteran of BuzzFeed, Kempner has been responsible for operations across BuzzFeed Entertainment, including social media, analytics, production, post-production, studio, and research operations worldwide. She’s helped launch properties including Tasty, Nifty and Goodful, and headed up strategy for how to replicate BuzzFeed’s most successful content across different channels and countries.
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“We’re grateful to Michelle for her many fantastic contributions to BuzzFeed, and we wish her the very best,” a company rep said. BuzzFeed currently does not plan to replace her position.
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In January, BuzzFeed reorganized its entertainment group, splitting out editorial video-production from a newly created Native Advertising group. Ze Frank, the previous head of BuzzFeed Entertainment, shifted into an R&D role and with the change, Kempner reported to BuzzFeed publisher Dao Nguyen.
Kempner, who’s based in L.A., is departing after Matthew Henick left as head of BuzzFeed Studios this spring — also to join Facebook. Henick is leading content planning and strategy for Facebook’s media partnerships team. In May, BuzzFeed announced led Lauren Dolgen, a former MTV producer, as the new head of BuzzFeed Studios.
Prior to joining BuzzFeed in 2014, Kempner worked for a variety of internet companies, including Sojo Studios and Geni.com. She also was solutions architect at Schematic, an interactive design, development and tech company acquired by WPP Digital in 2007.
Kempner posted an update on Facebook about her move (at this link). “I have been lucky enough to work with the platform for several years publishing impactful content at massive scale and couldn’t pass up the amazing opportunity to be a part of the team at Facebook,” she wrote.