Career Geraldine Laybourne

1 career

1.1 nickelodeon
1.2 disney
1.3 oxygen media
1.4 other work

career
nickelodeon

in 1980, laybourne signed on program manager @ year-old network, initiated focus-group approach programming.

laybourne 1 of first people focus on television programming kids. spent 15 years @ nickelodeon, taking on management of network, , started accepting advertising network, in 1984.

laybourne , team responsible creating , building nickelodeon brand, launching nick @ nite , expanding network establishing in other countries, developing theme parks , creating nickelodeon magazine, movie, toy , publishing divisions.

under leadership, nickelodeon became top-rated 24-hour cable programming service , won emmy awards, peabody awards, cableace awards , parents choice awards. network had 40% profit margin , explosive growth every year.

laybourne built nickelodeon first global television network profit selling advertising targeted towards children. programming approach, made point of talking children equals, built tiny cable network, had 5 employees in 1980, $8 billion business.

disney

laybourne left nickelodeon in 1996 become president of disney-abc cable networks, guiding growth , overseeing programming of disney channel , represented corporate interests in lifetime, a&e, e!, , history channel. led development 2 projects did not come fruition: abc 24 hour news cable channel , abz, innovative education channel. laybourne played role in creation , management of abc’s saturday morning children’s programming schedule, successful launch of 1 saturday morning. s said have felt stifled corporate structure @ disney.

oxygen media

in 1998, laybourne left disney , partnered oprah winfrey , carsey-werner productions create oxygen media, dedicated cable , internet programming women. purchased 3 women-oriented online services former mtv boss, robert w. pittman.

on february 2, 2000 (a date plays off chemical compound of oxygen—o2/o2), oxygen network premiered 10 million subscribers.

lvmh investor, left in 2001 when laybourne changed strategy being internet company television company.

laybourne hired 700 people, scaled down 250. company went on become profitable in 2004. microsoft billionaire, paul allen, invested in 3 rounds of oxygen, forced oxygen s sale in late 2007 nbc universal $925 million. @ end of laybourne s tenure, oxygen had 270,000 prime-time weekday viewers in 74 million homes.

other work

laybourne sits on symantec board, betaworks, , 9 story, canadian production , distribution company. serves chairman of board of alloy inc. , katapult. previously, served on boards of jc penney, electronic arts, move.com, defy media, , kindercare.

laybourne has been on board of vassar college (since 1998). advisor springboard, vital voices , acumen fund. laybourne sat on boards or advisory committees of national cable & telecommunications association, national council families , television, new york women in film & television (advisory board), , cable positive (honorary chair), , white house project.

laybourne started mentoring program, global women s mentoring walks, pairs established , emerging women professionals engage in mentoring partnerships in communities across globe.