American television executive
Ann Marie Sarnoff (née Misiaszek; born c. 1961)[1] is an American television executive.[2] She became the chairwoman and CEO of Warner Bros. in the summer of 2019.[3] Sarnoff was the first woman to hold the position at the company.[4]
Early life and education
Sarnoff was born in Massachusetts. She is a 1979 graduate of Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.[5][6]
In 1983, Sarnoff received a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from McDonough School of Business from Georgetown University.[7][8] In 1987, Sarnoff received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.[9][10]
Career
Sarnoff started out as a strategic consultant at Marakon Associates.[11]
From 1993 to 2003, Sarnoff worked at Viacom. Her first job at Viacom was in the corporate development department.[12] After leaving corporate, Sarnoff was the head of Nickelodeon consumer products and business development during Geraldine Laybourne's leadership of the company.[13] In 1999, while working at Nickelodeon, Sarnoff was part of a team that created the TV channel Noggin, a joint venture between Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop. Sarnoff also helped create the television channel TV Land, which started off as Nick at Nite's TV Land in 1996.[14] Two shows she promoted were Rugrats and Blue's Clues. Sarnoff served as executive vice-president of business strategy and program enterprises at VH1.[15]
In 2001, she became chief operating officer of VH1 and Country Music Television, with the task of integrating the two channels.[10][16] During her time at VH1, Sarnoff launched the TV channel, VH1 Classic.[17]
In February 2004, Sarnoff was chief operating officer of the Women's National Basketball Association.[7][11]
In 2006, Sarnoff joined Dow Jones Ventures as president and senior vice president of strategy, a position she held for four years.[18][19] In this position, she ran the executive conference business for The Wall Street Journal.[20][21]
From 2010 to 2015, Sarnoff was chief operating officer of BBC Worldwide North America, where she worked with Herb Scannell, who she had worked with at Nickelodeon.[22] In August 2015, Sarnoff became president of BBC Studios Americas, formerly known as BBC Worldwide Americas.[8] In 2015, she launched the subscription TV channel, BBC Earth, and promoted shows like Doctor Who, Top Gear, Dancing with the Stars, Sherlock, Orphan Black, and Killing Eve.[23] From 2016 to 2018, Sarnoff was head of BBC Worldwide's Global Production Network.[9] In 2017, she launched Britbox, a streaming service for North America.[24][25]
In the summer of 2019, Sarnoff became the first woman CEO of Warner Bros, a subsidiary of WarnerMedia. Sarnoff succeeded Kevin Tsujihara and reported to John Stankey.[2] Toby Emmerich, the head of Warner Bros. Pictures; Peter Roth, who is the head of the Warner Bros. television group; and Kim Williams, executive VP and chief financial officer of Warner Bros. who oversaw Otter Media, reported to Sarnoff in her position as head of Warner Bros.[26][27] On April 8, 2022, she stepped down from her role upon the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc.[28][29]
Personal life
In 1990, Sarnoff married Richard Sarnoff, a former media executive who works in private equity.[1][10][30] They live in New York City and have two children.[7][9][13] She relocated to Los Angeles for her position at Warner Bros.[3]
Sarnoff's husband's great uncle, David Sarnoff, was the long-time chairman of RCA, a pioneer of American television and radio, and was known as "The General" or "General Sarnoff".[31] He is credited with founding NBC in 1926 and RKO Radio Pictures in 1928.[2]
