Zixi names John Towers as CFO

Leveraging his over 20 years of experience across media and entertainment, Zixi has welcomed John Towers as chief financial officer. The live video delivery company said that the move aligns with its preparations for further growth amid the industry’s shift from satellite and legacy infrastructure to IP.

Over his career, Towers has held senior finance and operational roles at Sony, Deluxe and Fabric Data. Most recently, he spent three years as CFO of Fabric Data, a SaaS company focused on entertainment metadata.

Before joining Fabric Data, he spent two years in corporate development at Deluxe, following the sale of Sony’s digital video distribution business to the company. He had previously served as COO and president of Sony’s digital video distribution division, having joined as CFO in 2012 during the growth of digital content distribution and OTT.

“John has spent his career inside the kind of transition our customers are going through now,” said Marc Aldrich, CEO of Zixi. “He understands the economics of moving from physical to digital and from legacy to IP and he has scaled finance and operations at both a global media company and a fast-growing SaaS business. That combination is exactly what we need as Zixi grows.”

At Sony, Towers also held the role of CFO for the division responsible for manufacturing Blu-ray discs in the US, working on the format’s launch in 2006. He began his career in pharmaceutical manufacturing finance roles, including a five-year posting in Paris.

“One theme has run through my whole career, from pharmaceutical manufacturing onwards: helping businesses move from old infrastructure to new,” commented Towers. “I came into media with Blu-ray in 2006, moved into digital distribution and OTT in 2012, and watched the industry rebuild itself. Zixi sits at that same turning point today, helping broadcasters, sports leagues and streaming platforms deliver live video reliably over IP rather than costly legacy infrastructure. I have lived through this kind of transition before and I am looking forward to bringing that experience to the finance function as Zixi scales.”