Shine America is launching a Spanish-language division to produce original content for the U.S. and Latin American markets.

Colombian TV executive Cristina Palacio (pictured) will head up Shine Hispanic & Latin America as president, overseeing new offices in Miami and Bogota, Columbia. The programming will be distributed globally by Shine International.

“With Shine Hispanic & Latin America we are looking to further develop and distribute both scripted and unscripted programming to the rapidly growing Spanish-language marketplace,” said Shine America CEO Rich Ross in a statement. “Cristina’s vast experience in production and distribution make her the ideal person to lead our new team.”

Palacio was previously the founder and president of Bogota-based production company BE-TV, which developed and distributed series such as Los Infiltrados, El Cartel de los Sapos 2, La Isla, Las Muñecas de la Mafia and Minuto Para Ganar, Shine America’s first Spanish-language series.

Before that she was VP of development and VP of creative and production for Bogota’s Caracol TV. She started out as a writer, director and producer of telenovelas and later moved into unscripted through series such as Pop Stars, Family Feud and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

She will be based out of Shine’s Miami office.