Versant Appoints Charisse Williams Larado as VP of Talent Strategy and Recruitment for Sports

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VERSANT has appointed Charisse Williams Larado as Vice President, Talent Strategy and Recruitment for Sports, overseeing all talent management, recruitment, and development across the company’s sports businesses.

Larado will drive talent relations, maintain a competitive roster of on-air voices, and define recruitment strategy. She will also collaborate with The Golf

Channel, NASCAR, WNBA, USGA, IMSA, Olympics, Premier League and International counterparts to elevate the profiles of on-air personalities and support talent needs.

With over 15 years of editorial and talent management experience spanning across linear, streaming, digital and audio, Larado joins VERSANT from NBCUniversal

News Group, where she most recently served as Senior Director of Talent Strategy and Recruitment across NBC News, TODAY, Dateline, NBC News NOW, MSNBC and digital properties. Prior to joining Talent Strategy and Recruitment, Larado served as a Senior Producer for TODAY All Day, where she oversaw editorial content, production, talent and programming strategy for TODAY’s 24/7 streaming channel and TODAY original podcast series, Making Space with Hoda Kotb and Read with Jenna.

Larado’s appointment comes as VERSANT continues to bolster the Talent Strategy senior leadership team under Jessica Kurdali. It also comes on the heels of VERSANT’s first sports media rights acquisition. As previously announced, USA Network and Golf Channel will present live coverage of 11 United States Golf Association (USGA) championships through 2032 – including the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open – featuring live event and studio coverage of the championships across the networks.