Jeff Ivers has been named COO of Participant Media. Ivers became one of the company’s first employees when he joined as CFO in 2004.

He has served as Participant’s executive vice-president, business affairs and mergers and acquisitions since 2006 and was instrumental in negotiating Participant’s distribution arrangement with Summit Entertainment and the $250m film financing fund with Imagenation Abu Dhabi, among other deals.

Prior to Participant, Ivers served first as CFO then COO for the Motion Picture Corporation Of America. In 1989 he co-founded Triton Pictures, the theatrical distributor of foreign-language, art-house, and documentary films.

CEO Jim Berk hailed Ivers’ “extraordinary impact” on the company, adding, “In this new capacity, Jeff will be able to focus more of his time on the larger strategic operations currently underway and on expansion and investment opportunities.”