Maria Soares, who joined ESPN in 1992, is Senior Vice President of Production Support & Enhancement. A role Soares has held since 2025, her team supports all areas of ESPN content – digital, studio, and event production – through specialized editing, research, guest coordination, and video and clearance support. The group includes the enhanced editing teams (RISE, SCEU, CCU), Universal Coverage Group, Talent Producers, and Informational Content team, all focused on maximizing content, communication, and resources across ESPN.

Previously, Soares served as Senior Vice President of Production and Content Strategy, where she oversaw ESPN’s Universal News Group and the Sports News and Coverage division, which included Research and Digital Editorial. She also managed bureau staffs, coverage producers, and assignment editors, and under her leadership ESPN’s Stats and Information Group was reorganized into two functional areas: Research and ESPN Stats & Analysis.

Over her more than three decades at ESPN, Soares has held a wide range of leadership roles. She spent 25 years with ESPN International and ESPN Deportes, guiding event production teams, studio programming, digital video, the global assignment desk, and talent office. She played a critical role in launching more than 10 ESPN networks and supporting over 12 global ESPN.com editions, often producing multilingual content and collaborating across ESPN facilities worldwide.

Soares’ portfolio has also included oversight of SportsCenter, ESPN’s global soccer production unit, NCAA Volleyball, and NCAA Gymnastics. Earlier in her career, she contributed to coverage of four Olympic Games, four Pan American Games, the 2000 Home Run Derby (which marked the launch of ESPN Deportes), the first-ever Spanish-language coverage of the X Games, and numerous Super Bowls, Grand Slams, Cricket World Cups, and major soccer championships.

Soares is active across the company, serving on ESPN’s Editorial Board, the D&I Executive Council, and the Executive Women’s Forum. She is a graduate of the WICT Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and the WISE Women’s Executive Leadership Institute (WELI). A native of the Azores Islands, she speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and graduated cum laude from Emerson College with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

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