Exec Shuffle

By VARIETY STAFF

TNT has upped Marc Evans to VP of finance and strategic planning and Scott Karol to VP of business affairs as the cabler prepares to expand its slate of original productions.

Evans, who came to the network in 1996, will be responsible for all aspects of strategic planning, financial and deal analysis for TNT original movies, minis and series.

Karol will take increased responsibility for structuring co-production and license deals on TNT's original productions while negotiating above-the-line deals for TNT original films and series.

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Deborah Dugan has been promoted to VP of global licensing and business development at Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Dugan joined the Walt Disney Co. in 1998 as VP of business development and planning for Buena Vista Publishing Group, the U.S. publishing subsid of the Walt Disney Co.

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Elizabeth Herbst has been upped to exec VP of advertiser sales for Studios USA Domestic TV. She will oversee the sale and administration of national barter advertising.

Herbst joined the company in 1996 as senior veep.

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Jay Landers has been tapped senior VP of artists and repertoire at Walt Disney Records.

Landers will oversee the producing and exec producing of the company's music. He will also strengthen Disney's presence within the industry by developing new uses for the studio's song catalog.

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Dawn Steinberg has been tapped senior VP of talent and casting for Artists Television Group. She will oversee all casting for ATG's TV series, telepics and miniseries.

Steinberg has served as senior VP at Big Ticket Television for the past five years.

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Paramount Television Group exec VP Richard D. Lindheim has been named executive director of USC's newly established Institute for Creative Technologies.

The institute, which was recently granted $45 million from the U.S. military, will develop and research advanced modeling and simulation technology for both military and educational purposes.

Creative talents from the industry will participate in order to combine story and character elements with virtual reality technologies.

Lindheim has been with Paramount for nearly eight years, during which time he launched Paramount Digital Entertainment, one of the major's online tech sites.