Polwrek ankles U

By ANITA M. BUSCH

John Polwrek, who had worked in Universal Pictures marketing for the past 13 years and was the point person for corporate promotional tie-ins, exited the studio abruptly on Friday, sources said. He had served as VP of national promotions since 1994.

Universal execs said that they plan to replace Polwrek, but no decisions have been made.

Polwrek was initially brought into the studio by former marketing exec Don Barrett, who was then director of promotion and field operations for Universal. Polwrek has worked under a number of marketing execs, including Sally Van Slyke, Si Kornblit, Perry Katz and, most recently, Buffy Shutt, Kathy Jones and Eddie Egan.

"It's been a great 13 years," Polwrek said, "but it was time for me to take some time off and make a change. It was great working with Buffy, Kathy and Eddie Egan."

Over the years, Polwrek worked on such films as "Apollo 13," "Sneakers" and "Dante's Peak," and with Amblin promotional exec Brad Globe on the "Back to the Future" series, "Land Before Time," "An American Tail," "Casper," "The Flintstones," "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park."

Polwrek began as a field representative in Atlanta in 1984 and worked his way up the ranks. Before joining U, he served from 1979-84 with Sumner Redstone's Redstone Management, now known as National Amusements.