Sports media veteran Lara Vanjak has joined the Iris Sport Media agency as head of business development.
Vanjak, most recently executive vice president for rights and operations at DAZN, will be based in Milan, Italy, and will officially join the agency on February 1.
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Vanjak spent 18 months at DAZN, having joined the global sports streaming service in July 2023 from Eleven Sports, where she was the chief rights officer.
She has also held senior roles at international streaming platform LIVENow and at Aser Ventures, and positions at the heavyweight Infront and IMG agencies, as well as at Italian soccer giants Inter Milan.
Vanjak has said: “In a relatively short space of time, Iris has secured a number of high-profile clients and projects. The company is backed by a very strong team of experienced and well-regarded executives, all of whom share a very clear business plan and vision, especially in an industry currently undergoing significant transformation and facing numerous challenges.”
Ioris Francini, Iris’ founding partner, added: “Lara is a great addition to our team. She brings with her a wealth of international experience in sport and entertainment, working for media companies, an investment business, and the world’s largest sports streaming platform.”
In terms of recent Iris appointments, in late October the boutique agency made a significant move into Asia by hiring Tricia Chuah as media rights director for that region.
She joined from a role as Asia-Pacific regional director at the Stockholm-based Spring Media agency.
Iris has hired Tom Barnes as broadcast services director and Filippo Guidolin as account director. Both are veterans of sports agency heavyweight IMG.
The agency counts global distribution rights for the all-electric boat racing series E1 amongst its rights portfolio.
