LAUREN ZALAZNICK
Lauren Zalaznick has devoted her career in media to transforming the cultural landscape, from her start as an award-winning independent feature film producer to her most recent role as Executive Vice President at NBCUniversal. The hallmark of her career has been leading the growth of some of the strongest television and digital brands in media. Today, Zalaznick advises and invests in digital media startups, primarily focused on new content platforms. Every week, she publishes a widely read and influential newsletter about women in business and culture, The LZ Sunday Paper.
From 2004 to 2014, Zalaznick held progressive positions of leadership and p&l responsibility within Comcast NBCUniversal. She arrived at the company in 2004, through NBC’s acquisition of Barry Diller’s Universal Television, where she was the President of the critically acclaimed TR!O network. The channel was crowned “The ‘It’ Network” by Entertainment Weekly and called “The Jewel In Universal’s Crown” by The Wall Street Journal.
As President of Bravo, starting in 2004, the network delivered double-digit growth across every metric, leading cable industry innovation not only in programming but also on web, mobile, social, publishing, and live-event platforms. Under her leadership, Bravo Media garnered countless awards including the first-ever Emmy nomination and win for a cable network in the primetime category of Competitive Reality, for Project Runway and Top Chef, respectively. Project Runway was also awarded a Peabody, Zalaznick’s second.
At NBCUniversal, Zalaznick established the first company-wide marketing and sales group, NBCU Integrated Media. Additionally, Zalaznick created and chaired the Women at NBCU advisory board, comprised of true industry luminaries and pioneers.
At the close of the Comcast/NBC Universal merger in 2010, Zalaznick was named Chairman, Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media. In this role, she had oversight over Bravo, Oxygen, and Style Networks; the Hispanic Broadcast Network Telemundo and its Mun2 cable network; there, Zalaznick was responsible for the landmark acquisition of the World Cup tournament rights for Telemundo.
She also ran the NBCUniversal digital portfolio that included Fandango, which transformed from a utility ticketing service to a best-in-class, mobile-first entertainment platform. While inside Zalaznick’s portfolio its mobile app crossed the 40-million download threshold and Fandango doubled its annual share of all domestic movie tickets sold as well as advertising sales, growing ticket sales at a near triple-digit rate.
Her television career started at Viacom in 1994, as Vice President, On-Air Promotion, VH1. She later oversaw Original Programming and Development for the network’s highest-rated and most buzz-worthy shows including the breakthrough first long-form show for the network, Pop Up Video; and awards show franchises including Divas: Live, and the VH1 Fashion Awards. Returning to her film roots, she served as Executive Producer of the beloved 2001 Paramount feature film “Zoolander.”
Zalaznick launched her career in independent film. From 1984 to 1994, she produced a number of groundbreaking feature films including the Cannes and Sundance Festival award-winning film Kids, directed by Larry Clark; Todd Haynes’ Poison and Safe, starring Julianne Moore; Tom Kalin’s Swoon, and Jim McKay’s Girls Town.
Zalaznick herself has been widely recognized as an industry shape-shifter and innovator, and has received many honors for her achievements. She was the youngest person ever to be awarded the Brandon Tartikoff Lifetime Achievement Award; the year prior, she was inducted into to the Broadcasting & Cable Hall Of Fame. New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg honored Zalaznick with a “Made in NY” award and asked her to serve on his NYC 2020 Media Council. Time magazine named Zalaznick one of the “Time 100: World’s Most Influential People,” and Vanity Fair named her to their “New Establishment” list; earlier, she was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story. She delivered a TED talk that has been viewed well over half a million times.
She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Shazam, GoPro, and Penguin/Random House. She is a senior advisor to many industry-leading content and tech start-ups, including Refinery29, Atlas Obscura, LifePosts, and Medium. She is also an Advisor to The Sundance Institute, and Venture For America, among others.
Zalaznick is a Trustee of the Corporation of Brown University. From Brown, she received her B.A. in English literature, while also fulfilling a pre-med curriculum. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
She currently resides in New York City with her family.