NBC, ESPN Production Vets Join Golf Channel Team

Israel DeHerrera, 11-time Emmy Award-winner and former NBC Sports Olympics feature producer, has joined Golf Channel as Supervising Producer, Teases and Features, joining Jeff Neubarth, former producer for various ESPN sports properties, who also recently joined the network as Coordinating Producer for Morning Drive. Both hires were announced today by Molly Solomon, Golf Channel Executive Producer.

“Both Izzy and Jeff are well-respected professionals who share our passion for golf,” Solomon said. “They also share our commitment to journalistic excellence and compelling storytelling, and will make immediate contributions to the production of high-quality content.”

In the newly created role, DeHerrera will serve as lead feature and tease producer for Golf Channel’s news and tournament programming. He will be responsible for all creative content and will be tasked to ensure a consistent and cohesive on-air product. He also will produce documentaries for the network’s Original Productions division.

DeHerrera produced Dream Team, a short film profiling the 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team, which aired in primetime on NBC during the London Olympics. He has won 11 Emmys, highlighted by the award for “Outstanding Editing” in 2008 for a feature titled Remember the Titans during the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, China. He also was nominated for an Emmy in the “Best Short Feature” category last year. He began his professional production career at ESPN in 1999 and also has served in various production capacities at HBO, ABC, and Versus (currently NBC Sports Network).

Neubarth will oversee production and day-to-day planning of Morning Drive, Golf Channel’s two-hour, daily morning show dedicated to all things golf and hosted by Gary Williams and Holly Sonders. Most recently, Neubarth worked as a freelance producer and associate director of various ESPN productions, including the NBA, Major League Baseball, college basketball, and golf. He was a long-time contributor to USA Network’s coverage of the PGA TOUR, Masters and Ryder Cup, and worked as a producer and associate producer on NBC’s coverage of the 2004 and 2000 Olympic Games, winning a Sports Emmy Award for each. He also won a Telly Award as creative director for USA Network’s coverage of the Masters in 2004.

Both Neubarth and DeHerrera will report directly to Joe Riley, Golf Channel Senior Director of News and Talk.

Other Golf Channel staffing announcements include David Piccolo’s promotion to Vice President, Creative Director. Piccolo has been instrumental in managing the creative direction of the combined Golf Channel-NBC graphics look and Golf Channel’s branding campaigns. Piccolo will continue to report to Regina O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Marketing. Additionally, Joanne Chiang DeHerrera has joined Golf Channel as Production Manager for the Original Productions division. A five-time Emmy Award winner, Chiang DeHerrera formerly worked in production management for NBC Sports and Olympics.