Exec had been with CNN Worldwide

Discovery has named Alex Wellen as president and general manager of its recently formed automotive focused Motor Trend Group, effective July 1.

Wellen had been global chief product officer at CNN Worldwide. He will oversee the group’s strategic direction and global growth of businesses including the Motor Trend App and motortrend.com and the Velocity cable network, which is being rebranded as the Motor Trend Network in the Fall.

Bob Scanlon, president and general manager of Motor Trend Network and Automotive Content for Motor Trend Group, will report to Wellen.

“Alex is a tremendous talent, with the world-class digital expertise we need to drive our global ambitions for Motor Trend Group,” said Mike Lang, president of International Development and CEO of Motor Trend. “Motor Trend exemplifies Discovery’s goal for scaling our digital businesses, by super-serving passionate auto enthusiasts with the content they crave on all screens, as well as providing advertisers access to an unparalleled cross-platform audience segment. I look forward to working with Alex to take Motor Trend to its next level of success.”

Wellen has been with CNN for 12 years. Before that, he was a high tech intellectual property litigator.

“We are very excited about having Alex join the Motor Trend team." said Steven Tananbaum, founding partner and chief investment officer of GoldenTree Asset Management LP, Discovery’s joint venture partner in Motor Trend Group. "His deep media expertise will be invaluable to helping us achieve our goal of accelerating Motor Trend’s growth and further establishing it as the premier content platform for auto enthusiasts,” 

“If you’re in the business of creating fan-based brands, I cannot think of a more personal category than automotive, a more iconic global brand than Motor Trend, or a more gifted team than the talent I’ve met at Discovery and Motor Trend Group," said Wellen, who has published two books and is an inventor with dozens of patents. “I am proud to take on this incredible role and to help reimagine how Motor Trend connects with advertisers, distributors, and automotive fans.”