Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm was named executive director of Witness

by Michael Learmonth, Silicon Alley Insider

Top Programming Exec Leaves Joost

The architect of Joost's many splashy TV deals is leaving the company. Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm was named executive director of Witness, a human rights organization founded by Peter Gabriel.

Thijm was EVP of content strategy & acquisition at Joost, which was an important job when Joost was out signing content deals with TV networks in 2006 and 2007. In the past year Joost has been busier remaking the P2P TV service into a Web-based application that consumers would be more likely to use. We expect Joost to relaunch the service later this summer.

(Joost did announce a content deal today, adding shows from Japanese public broadcaster NHK.)

Thijm's departure further thins the ranks of Joost employees who were around for the Internet TV service's heyday. Joost recently hired two programming execs from Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion: Danny Passman was named global head of programming strategy, and John Schultz, director of programming strategy.

Before Joost, Thijm was EVP of business affairs for MTV Networks International. She has been on the board of Witness since 2005. Her last day at Joost is July 15.