Von Johnson joined Universal International Television Distribution (UTD) as Senior Vice President of Sales Administration and Distribution in 2000.  The Sales Administration Group is dedicated to managing the flow of product and information associated with international television sales agreements. The Distribution Group works hand-in-hand with Sales Administration to fulfill product expectations according to the agreements.

 

This was a period of significant change at UTD, marked by the development and deployment of UTD's SAFE System (Sales Availability for Filmed Entertainment), the acquisition by Vivendi and the growth of high definition television and electronic distribution.  Johnson was project co-sponsor for the SAFE development and also oversaw UTD's business integration with Universal's JD Edward's Inventory Management System (Elements).  The period also saw the development and deployment of UTD's Digital Distribution Download system, enabling secure client access to contracted publicity materials via the Internet.

 

UTD tapped Johnson to lead a Business Process Re-Engineering Project with goals to reduce cycle time from sales to collections, maximize cash, reduce redundancy and outdated legacy practices, reduce volume of order changes and amendments, increase accuracy of client and product information and improve product management.  

 

Following the successful conclusion of the BPR project, Vivendi and UTD recruited Johnson to lead the business integration between UTD and Studio Canal Distribution.  The $6.5M integration project plan called for stitching the television sales and distribution resources of Universal and StudioCanal together into a seamless, single operating unit with like practices, standards and methods across finance, sales, contracts, distribution and IT.  Among the many challenges to overcome during this project were respecting the varied cultural and business distinctions in mind among the American, British and French stakeholders while maintaining a heightened project urgency.