Empson is a onetime managing director with Forstmann Little & Co., who most recently co-founded NantCapital — a Los Angeles-based family office for billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. He will relocate to New York, and effectively replaces longtime managing director Al Dobron on Providence’s media team (Dobron is now focused on business development).

Among his immediate responsibilities will be to help on Learfield Communications, a provider of collegiate multimedia rights solutions and services that Providence recently acquired. Chances are that Empson will be able to slide right in, given that NantCapital quietly participated in that deal as a minority shareholder.

Also worth noting that Empson helped manage Forstmann Little’s investment in IMG Worldwide, in which Providence had interest before deciding to pursue Learfield instead.

Expect a formal announcement of Empson’s hiring later today.

In other Providence Equity news, the firm yesterday said that it has added Karen Gordon as a managing director in its portfolio operations group. She had been with Boston Consulting Group since 1996, most recently as a senior partner and managing director.

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