By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY: Michele Garra has been promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president, Asia Pacific for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), and will relocate to the USA for the role.

Formerly Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, and based in Sydney, Garra will relocate to the company’s home office in Culver City, California. She will report to Matt Brown, executive vice president, International.

In her new role, Garra will oversee all business functions in the markets of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India and Korea to support key retail customers and business partners.

In a company statement today, Brown said, “Michele ran our very successful Australian operation for over a decade and we are thrilled to offer her this opportunity to broaden her horizons and bolster SPHE’s strong position across the Asian-Pacific market. As the growing home entertainment business of the emerging economies in Asia becomes an important revenue source for our business, having an executive with the keen business sense and experience which Michele possesses is an important strategic move to insure the success of these territories.”

Garra has worked in the industry for 24 years, 16 of which have been at SPHE. During her tenure, the home entertainment market in Australia and New Zealand reached a combined earnings $1.9 billion, according to the company. SPHE also credited Garra with facilitating the introduction of new and emerging home entertainment content to both the trade and consumer, including DVD in 1998 and Blu-ray Disc in 2007.

Garra has held a number of marketing roles in the film industry, including senior marketing positions at both SPHE and Village Roadshow. Garra is a governor on the board of the Sony Foundation Australia and a director of Swimming Australia. She also continues as a board member of the Australian Visual Software Distributors Association (AVSDA), and as chair of the Blu-ray Working Group in Australia.

A graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors, Garra also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney.