Variety: Netflix Communications Chief Rachel Whetstone, VP of Policy Dean Garfield Are Out

Story from Variety:

Netflix is looking to install a single exec to oversee its corporate communications and policy teams — and with that decision, chief communications officer Rachel Whetstone and VP of public policy Dean Garfield are leaving the company.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced the departures of Whetstone and Garfield to staff in a memo Tuesday.

“For nearly six years, Rachel and Dean have been not just leaders, but true partners,” Sarandos said in a statement. “Their counsel, dedication and passion have shaped our company and contributed to our success. Greg [Peters, Netflix co-CEO] and I are incredibly grateful to them both, and wish them all the best for the future.”

A source familiar with the company said Sarandos is hiring a “chief global affairs officer” — a new senior position at Netflix — who will oversee both policy and corporate communications. The company has not identified anyone for that role at this point. Garfield does not have comms experience and Whetstone was not interested in the role, according to the source.

With Whetstone’s exit, Netflix publicity teams will report into chief marketing officer Marian Lee; until a new exec is hired for the combo comms-policy role, the company’s communications staff will report into Oliver Rawlins, VP of public relations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Garfield reported to chief legal officer David Hyman, who will continue to lead Netflix’s policy team in the interim.

Whetstone was named chief communications officer of Netflix in August 2018. Previously, she served as VP of communications at Facebook (now called Meta) and was senior VP of communications and public policy at Uber from 2015-17. Before that, she worked at Google, serving as SVP of communications and public policy from 2011 to 2015 after originally joining the internet company in 2005. Whetstone is a graduate of Bristol University in England and spent the first half of her career working in U.K. politics as a policy adviser, including at the Interior Ministry.

Netflix hired Garfield as VP of public policy in 2019. Previously, he served as president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council from from 2009 to 2019, and prior to that was EVP and chief strategic officer for the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and VP of legal affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In 2010, Garfield was appointed by President Obama to the White House’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and was appointed to the Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Automation. Garfield received a joint degree from New York University School of Law and the Princeton School of Public Administration and International Affairs at Princeton University. A Ford-Rockefeller and Root-Tilden-Snow scholar, Garfield earned his undergraduate degree in English language and literature at Middlebury College.