Golf Channel announced two additions to its news team today with Kory Kozak, coordinating producer of features and Mark Summer, senior director of Golf Central, the network’s signature evening news program. Both will report to Adam Hertzog, vice president of news and studio productions for Golf Channel. Kozak and Summer join Matt Hegarty, senior director of news special events, along with Jeff Neubarth, coordinating producer of Morning Drive to fill out Hertzog’s senior news production team.
“Kory and Mark bring unique skills to our Golf Channel news team, each drawing upon extensive experience producing sports news programming, and their collective experience will undoubtedly bolster Golf Channel’s commitment to connecting the world to golf through high-quality content,” said Molly Solomon, executive producer of Golf Channel. “Kory separates himself from his peers with an exceptional knack for storytelling, taking projects from conception to creation, and in doing so producing a number of Emmy-winning features. And Mark has a track record of driving award-winning creative elements within the sports news landscape, possessing an acute awareness for presenting developing stories and breaking news in an innovative way.”
In his new role with Golf Channel’s news team, Kozak will use his more than 15 years of experience producing features to share the unique, compelling stories surrounding the game of golf. Kozak’s experience in features includes recent work as a freelance producer on stories for ESPN, National Geographic Channel, NASCAR Productions and FOX Sports. An eight-time Emmy Award winner, Kozak received his 25th Emmy nomination in 2013, and also saw one of his features win the 2013 Sports Emmy for best camera work. Prior to becoming a freelance producer in 2006, Kozak worked for ESPN as a production assistant, associate producer and eventually a features producer. Kozak graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in communications, and also was a defensive lineman on the football team.
As senior director of Golf Central, Summer will be responsible for all content surrounding Golf Channel’s evening news program, after compiling 23 years of experience in sports news production for ESPN. Summer’s experience with the network began in 1990 as a production assistant, and then became an associate producer, producer, and eventually a coordinating producer in 2001. Summer was named senior coordinating producer in 2007, overseeing the development of creative concepts for the network’s sports news programs. After leading the production of ESPN’s NBA studio shows, Summer was tasked with overseeing the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. block of SportsCenter, one of the network’s most viewed time slots featuring some of its more distinguished on-air talent. Summer graduated with a degree in communications from Curry College in Massachusetts.
