Leslie Moonves
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation; Director
Leslie Moonves is President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation. In this role, he oversees all operations of the company, including the CBS Television Network, CBS Studios, CBS Television Distribution, Showtime, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), CBS Television Stations, CBS Radio, CBS Outdoor, Simon & Schuster, CBS Interactive, CBS Consumer Products, CBS Home Entertainment and CBS Films.
Under Moonves' guidance, CBS has maintained its dominance as America’s #1 TV network, launching three new primetime hits this season alone, while the Showtime pay cable network has significantly increased its viewership, subscription fees and critical acclaim under his watch. The 2008 acquisition of CNET has made CBS one of the country’s top 10 Internet companies, and Moonves has acted quickly to make CBS a leader in developing ways to distribute and monetize its vast library of content across new and emerging platforms. Additionally, his move to consolidate the company’s local TV and radio stations has helped the company become a leader in local media. Moonves also helped usher Simon & Schuster’s into the eBooks marketplace.
Prior to the Viacom separation in 2005, Moonves served as Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom and Chairman of CBS, overseeing all of Viacom's domestic and international broadcast television operations, radio division and outdoor advertising operations.
Moonves was promoted to Chairman and CEO of CBS in 2003, and prior to that, was President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Television, a position he was elevated to in April 1998. He joined CBS in July 1995 as President, CBS Entertainment. It was during this time CBS became America's most watched television network, going from last to first during Moonves' leadership.
He joined CBS from Warner Bros. Television, where as President, he oversaw a television division that supplied the greatest number of programs to network television for nine consecutive years, culminating in a record-setting 22 series (including "ER," "Friends" and "The Drew Carey Show") on the 1995-96 network schedules. He had been President of Warner Bros. Television since July 1993, when Warner Bros. and Lorimar Television combined operations. From 1989 to 1993, he had been President of Lorimar Television. He joined the company in 1985 as executive in charge of its movies and mini-series, and became head of creative affairs in 1988.
Earlier in his career, Moonves was Vice President of movies and mini-series for Twentieth Century Fox Television, where he was also in charge of first-run syndication and pay/cable programming. He had previously been Vice President, development, for Saul Ilson Productions (in association with Columbia Pictures Television) and a development executive for Catalina Productions.
Upon graduation from Bucknell University, Moonves pursued an acting career at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, studying under the renowned Sanford Meisner. He performed in numerous stage and television productions before opting to produce plays on Broadway and in Los Angeles.
Moonves is a member of the NCAA Leadership Advisory Board, the board of directors of the Los Angeles Free Clinic and the board of trustees of the Entertainment Industries Council. He is a trustee of the National Council for Families and Television and of the American Film Institute and is past president of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society. He is also co-chair of the Los Angeles Board of Governors of The Paley Center for Media.
In March 2003, Moonves was honored by the International Radio and Television Society as the recipient of the Gold Medal Award, one of most prestigious honors in media and entertainment. Since joining CBS, Moonves has also been named Variety's Showman of the Year and Entertainment Weekly's Most Powerful Man in Hollywood and received the Casting Society of America's Career Achievement Award.
He is also a past recipient of the American Jewish Committee's Sherrill Corwin Award, given to outstanding leaders in the entertainment and communications industry.