Politico Names Annie Allen As Executive Producer Of Events

Politico has named Annie Allen as executive producer of events, overseeing the media outlet’s team in North America.

Allen has been a television and documentary producer, including role at ABC News, ESPN and shows like Showtime’s The Circus.

She will be joining Cristina Gonzalez, Politico’s events executive producer with oversight of Europe.

Cally Baute, executive vice president and general manager, media business, North America, and Jonathan Greenberger, executive vice president, wrote in a memo to employees that Allen and Gonzalez “will partner to jointly co-produce experiences at the biggest global moments, and they will work in tandem to innovate across our live events experiences around the world. They will also be responsible for leveraging the talents and expertise of their teams and our incredible journalists on both sides of the Atlantic to offer our audiences access to the most influential policymakers and newsmakers, and to the conversations that will shape politics and policy.”

Politico has been establishing “executive producer” roles, with plans in the works to hire an EP for the DC Playbook franchise. It recently named Zach Warmbrodt as the first executive producer for Congress.

Allen joined Politico five months ago in a temporary role to produce events programming at the CNN-Politico Grill at the Republican and Democratic conventions. The venues featured a series of conversations with major lawmakers and political figures, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Baute and Greenberger’s complete memo is below:

Team,

We write with an important update to September’s announcement that we have unified teams across the U.S. and Europe into a single, cohesive, POLITICO events division. Today we are thrilled to share that Annie Allen will become our new Executive Producer of Events, overseeing the team here in North America. Annie is the second EP in our new Live Events division, joining Cristina Gonzalez, our Events EP with oversight of our European operations.  

Annie and Cristina’s new roles are critical steps forward in our mission to connect, inform and delight live audiences across the world – and to ensure POLITICO’s live convenings are home to the hottest tickets in town. Annie and Cristina will partner to jointly co-produce experiences at the biggest global moments, and they will work in tandem to innovate across our live events experiences around the world. They will also be responsible for leveraging the talents and expertise of their teams and our incredible journalists on both sides of the Atlantic to offer our audiences access to the most influential policymakers and newsmakers, and to the conversations that will shape politics and policy.

As many of you know, Annie joined POLITICO five months ago in a temporary role, helping us prepare for the live programming we were producing during the U.S. political conventions at the CNN-POLITICO grills. It immediately became clear that Annie’s ambition matched our own: She believed POLITICO could – and should – deliver our audience an unparalleled series of newsmaking conversations. Annie then executed on those big dreams, partnering with colleagues from throughout the organization to produce more than 60 thought-provoking, revealing interviews with everyone from Speaker Mike Johnson to Senator Chuck Schumer. Annie did it all by capitalizing on her infectious enthusiasm – and her refusal to take no for an answer.

Annie came to POLITICO with more than two decades of experience as an Emmy Award-winning network television and documentary executive producer. Annie spent the first 10 years of her career at ABC News, where she covered CENTCOM during the invasion of Iraq, produced interviews with four presidents and countless members of Congress and cabinet secretaries, a town hall meeting at the White House, and more. She then joined the development group at ESPN, where she crafted new series for the sports programmer. More recently, Annie has worked on projects including Showtime’s “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth,” National Geographic’s 8-part documentary series “Chain of Command,” and numerous other projects for A&E, the History Channel, Lifetime, Apple TV+ and more. Annie’s experience includes creating programs from scratch: Building the concept, casting the stories, and delivering the programs on time and on budget.  

In her new role here, Annie will draw not just on her incredible resume but also on partners throughout the organization, including Jessie Niewold, our “POLITICO boomerang” who recently rejoined us as Executive Director of Events here in North America, and all the members of the peerless events team Annie will now be leading.

Annie begins her new role immediately – just in time for tomorrow’s election and January’s inauguration of a new administration.

Cally

Jonathan