Jay Abraham named president, CEO of NASCAR Images

January 22, 2002
12:03 PM EST (1703 GMT)

LOS ANGELES -- Jay Abraham has been named president and CEO of NASCAR Images, the video and film production and creative marketing joint venture between NASCAR Digital Entertainment and FOX Sports Ventures. Paul Brooks, vice president of broadcasting, NASCAR, and Larry Jones, chief operating officer, FOX Sports, made the announcement jointly Tuesday.

Abraham was formerly vice president of business development for HJ Heinz Company. He replaces Tom Grabowski who stepped down on November 15, 2001, to pursue expanded opportunities with Urban Sports, a company he recently founded. Abraham will be responsible for overseeing the strategic planning and day-to-day operations of NASCAR Images original programming, television production and corporate business development for NASCAR sponsors, teams, tracks and broadcast partners, in addition to the establishment and growth of home video production and distribution for NASCAR-related entertainment.

"Jay brings an ideal background of business development, management experience and NASCAR industry know-how to lead the creative, marketing and production teams at NASCAR Images," said Paul Brooks, vice president of broadcasting for NASCAR.

"Jay is the perfect executive to take NASCAR Images to the next level as a business entity," said Jones. "Our goal is to make NASCAR Images the premier supplier for NASCAR-branded entertainment products."

"I am excited to have this opportunity to work with NASCAR and Fox Sports Ventures and to lead the NASCAR Images team," Abraham said. "Our goal is to offer the highest quality NASCAR-related programming and products while building the company and brand identity to be a leader in NASCAR entertainment."

Abraham brings over two decades of leadership experience to his post. Most recently he served as vice president of business development at the HJ Heinz Company where he was responsible for key business extensions, global category management and the corporation's consumer promotions group.

Prior he served as vice president of marketing for Food Lion, Inc., where he became the point person actively involved in NASCAR-initiated partnerships. Additionally, he served as vice president of marketing for the Weight Watchers Food Company. His marketing career began at General Mills.

A graduate of Brown University, Abraham received a bachelor of arts in English and a master's degree in business administration from The Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

NASCAR Images, located in Charlotte, N.C., is an original programming, video and film production, post-production and creative marketing company serving corporate sponsors, marketers and advertisers, as well as NASCAR's drivers, teams, tracks and television partners. Currently NASCAR Images produces NASCAR This Morning and NASCAR Tech for Fox Sports Net and Inside Winston Cup for SPEED Channel.