As President, BBC Worldwide North America, Ann Sarnoff is responsible for driving growth and profit across the company’s business divisions in the U.S. and Canada including Los Angeles-based studios BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions, linear and digital program sales, home entertainment, licensing, theatrical and live events.  She also oversees the amplification of BBC Worldwide’s global brands Doctor Who, Top Gear, and the natural history brand BBC Earth.

In 2014 Sarnoff helped lead the deal to create a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and AMC Networks for cable channel BBC AMERICA of which BBC Worldwide now owns 50.1%. She sits on the JV Board, the Operations Committee and the Brands and Marketing Committee, and chairs the Editorial Committee.

In 2016, Sarnoff closed a partnership agreement between BBC Worldwide North America and Blue Ant Media to launch BBC Earth, the BBC’s premium factual channel in Canada. The channel launched in January of 2017 with exclusive access to a slate of high-profile programming including Planet Earth II.

Under Sarnoff’s leadership, BBC Worldwide and ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, partnered to bring BritBox, a new subscription video on demand (SVOD) streaming service to the U.S. Launched in March of 2017, the service offers over 2,000 hours of current and classic British television across all genres. Sarnoff chairs the board of BritBox.

Sarnoff joined BBC Worldwide North America in 2010 as Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to president in August of 2015.

Before BBC Worldwide North America, Sarnoff was President of Dow Jones Ventures and Senior Vice President of Strategy where she was responsible for leveraging the assets of Dow Jones to create new businesses, and overseeing corporate strategy and business development.  Before that she was COO for the Women’s National Basketball Association.  During her ten years at Viacom, Sarnoff was Nickelodeon’s Executive Vice President for Consumer Products and Business Development, and subsequently, became COO for VH1 and CMT.  While at Viacom Sarnoff helped launch new cable channels TV Land, Noggin and VH1 Classic, and built Nickelodeon consumer products into a multi-billion dollar business at retail.

Sarnoff holds a BS from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  She sits on the board of HSN, Inc., a $3B interactive multi-channel retailer. Sarnoff recently joined the board of Georgetown University. She is the vice president of The Women’s Forum of New York and the vice-chair of the advisory board of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown. She also serves on the board of the Harvard Business School Women’s Association of New York, the advisory board of British American Business, and the Digital Task Force for New York Public Radio. For the past six years, Sarnoff has been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Cable by CableFAX Magazine.  She was honored with the “Women of Achievement Award” by The Women’s Project Theater. She has two children, and lives in New York City with her husband.

Speaking on: Media Leaders Series: Studio Competition In The Peak TV Era