A Smith & Co rejigs management

US reality prodco A Smith & Co Productions has named the chief creative officer of Banijay Studios North America, Caroline Baumgard, as its new CEO.

Caroline Baumgard

Baumgard will replace Arthur Smith as CEO of the company, which was acquired by UK-based Tinopolis Group in 2011. Smith, who became Tinopolis USA chairman after that buyout, will now take the same position at A Smith & Co, which he founded in 2000.

Smith will continue to executive produce several of LA-based A Smith & Co’s shows, such as American Ninja Warrior, Hell’s Kitchen and The Titan Games, as well as focusing on his duties as chairman of Tinopolis USA, which includes oversight of Magical Elves.

Arriving in October, Baumgard joins A Smith & Co from Banijay Studios North America, which she helped launch in 2014. As chief creative officer, she was responsible for the development and management of all programming produced by the company.

This includes Child Support for ABC, a gameshow featuring Ricky Gervais and hosted by Fred Savage, and forthcoming ABC gameshow Don’t, with Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) attached as an executive producer and Adam Scott (Parks & Recreation) as host.

Baumgard also developed, sold and served as executive producer on reboots of Temptation Island (USA Network) and Wife Swap (Paramount).

Prior to joining Banijay, she worked at Fear Factor and Deal or No Deal producer Endemol USA for over a decade, joining from its inception and serving as its executive VP.

Meanwhile, A Smith & Co chief operating officer Frank Sinton has been appointed to the same role at Tinopolis USA. A 14-year veteran of the company, Sinton also retains his role as president of A Smith & Co’s documentary and factual programming division.

His executive producing credits include TV One’s Unsung, now in its 10th season, BET’s American Gangster, ESPN’s Pro Bowl Skills Showdown and feature-length documentaries Apache Warrior and Citizen Soldier.

Prior to becoming an independent producer, Sinton was VP of programming for Fox Sports Net, where he first met and worked with Smith. Before joining Fox, he was VP of programming at The Disney Channel.