Former ABC & Condé Nast Exec Jon Koa To Head Comedy At CBS

CBS has hired Jon Koa as EVP, Comedy Development following the departure of veteran exec Julie Pernworth.

Koa was most recently SVP, Scripted Television for Condé Nast Entertainment, where he has spent the last six years. He was previously Executive Director, Comedy Programming and Development, for the ABC between 2009 and 2015.

Koa will start at the broadcast network soon and reports to Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment, and Thom Sherman, Senior Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Entertainment.

He will oversee all comedy development for the net’s primetime programming.

During his tenure at Condé Nast Entertainment, he oversaw the development of the independent production entity’s series for network, streaming and cable and mined IP from publications such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, GQ and Vogue for film and TV. He scored series orders at USA Network, Discovery ID and Sky Atlantic and developed projects for a slew of platforms.

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Prior to joining Condé Nast, he was part of the team that launched series including Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat and The Goldbergs and was involved in shows such as Happy Endings, Dr. Ken and Scrubs. He began his career in the drama development department at Universal Television.

Deadline revealed last month that Pernworth, who developed series such as Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Mom and The Big Bang Theory, was leaving after 21 years.

“Jon is a tremendously experienced television executive with an obvious passion for the development process,” said Kahl. “His reputation among his peers and the creative community is impeccable and he will be an extraordinary addition to the CBS team.”

Sherman added, “It was imperative we find just the right individual to lead our comedy team. Jon has tremendous creative chops and a keen eye for spotting writing that resonates. I look forward to working closely with him.”