Maria Thrasher Joins Hearst Media Production Group

Maria Thrasher, a media sales and marketing veteran with deep sales and brand development experience in television, radio and the start-up sector, has joined Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG) as a business partnerships and development executive. She reports to Amy DeGregorio, HMPG senior vice president, managing director of sales for educational/informational (E/I) programming.

Prior to joining HMPG, Thrasher ran her own Charlotte, N.C.-based consultancy, providing consulting, strategy and execution for all aspects of clients’ marketing and advertising initiatives.  Before that, she was senior integrated marketing director for the large radio broadcaster Radio One, expanding the group’s relationships with brands including McDonald’s, Publix Super Markets and Carolinas Healthcare System.

Prior to Radio One, she held sales and business-development positions with Guardian Television Network, tech start-up iProperty.com, radio broadcaster Emmis Communications and radio start-up Blue Chip Broadcasting. She began her radio ad sales career at Ohio-based Dispatch Broadcast Group.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio’s Wittenberg University.

HMPG’s current program portfolio comprises more than 30 series and hundreds of hours of content annually on broadcast station groups and networks and on connected TV and streaming platforms. It has a library of more than 4,000 hours of programming and its content can be found in 97 countries.