Lauren Zalaznick

Lauren Zalaznick has spent her entire career in media, from her start as an independent feature film producer to her current role as corporate Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal.

She was appointed Executive Vice President in February 2013, responsible for accelerating growth for the company, charged with identifying and executing on new business opportunities driven by the rapidly changing media landscape.  Specifically, Zalaznick will develop new capabilities in research, technology, and innovation to quantify and capitalize on potential impacts of current and emerging trends. Additionally, she will lead a newly formed consumer products group for NBCUniversal. Zalaznick continues to oversee NBCUniversal’s pure-play digital assets, Fandango and DailyCandy, which achieved stellar growth and expanded their influence under her leadership since 2010. She will now also deploy strategic acquisitions and investments for the entire digital portfolio.

Zalaznick is widely regarded as the first to recognize and harness the power of NBCUniversal’s media portfolio, forming the Integrated Media group in 2007. She will continue to work with Integrated Media, which creates custom creative marketing solutions for ad partners and encompasses targeted initiatives, driving strategy for Women at NBCU, where she continues to chair the advisory board of industry luminaries. Today, she oversees the NBCU Digital Council, and is also responsible for the highly effective “Symphony” initiative across NBCUniversal and Comcast Corporation properties, which seeks to cross-collateralize promotional efforts around the portfolio’s biggest events, including Universal Pictures’ biggest film releases of the year, as well as NBC Entertainment Group’s highest priorities such as the Olympics and NBC Entertainment Network’s new fall season.

Most recently, Zalaznick served as Chairman of Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media. In this role, she oversaw Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, Style Media, Telemundo Media, mun2, Sprout  and  TVOne, as well as the digital properties DailyCandy, Fandango, Television Without Pity, and iVillage. She also had responsibility for the cross-company marketing and creative content group, Integrated Media, which includes the company-wide initiatives Green is Universal, Healthy at NBCU, Hispanics at NBCU and Women at NBCU.

Under Zalaznick’s guidance, each of her businesses achieved record-setting ratings and revenue growth, while forging new media and marketing partnerships for the division. Her businesses garnered industry recognition and countless awards for digital, mobile, social, and ad sales innovations.

For the past nine years, Zalaznick held various positions of increasing responsibility within NBCUniversal. Zalaznick arrived at the company in 2004, after the company’s acquisition of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, where she was the President of the critically acclaimed TRIO network since February 2002.

Her television career started at VH1 in 1994, as Vice President, On-Air Promotion.  She later oversaw Original Programming and Development for the network and served as Executive Producer of the feature film “Zoolander.” Zalaznick launched her career in independent film, since 1984 producing a number of feature films including the Cannes and Sundance Festival award-winning films Kids, Safe, Swoon, and Girls Town.

Zalaznick has been widely recognized as an industry pioneer and has received many honors for her achievements.

In 2012, she was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. Zalaznick is a member of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s MediaNYC2020 Council.  In 2011, The Paley Center for Media named Zalaznick one of the original “She’s Making Media” honorees, which distinguishes women across the new media landscape.   New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg honored Zalaznick at the “Made in NY” awards in 2011 for her contributions to the advancement of media in New York City. For several years, Fortune Magazine has included her in their “Most Powerful Women” issue; in 2009, Time magazine named Zalaznick one of the “Time 100: World’s Most Influential People,” Vanity Fair named her to their “New Establishment” list, and she was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story.

Zalaznick is a Trustee of the Corporation of Brown University, from which 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 husband and three children.