Warner Bros. appoints black female executive as its new chairman

Entertainment group Warner Bros. Television Group earlier this week announced that Channing Dungey, a veteran TV executive will be replacing Peter Roth as the new chairman.

“The Warner Bros. Television Group is the recognized industry leader in content creation and true destination for talent based on its ability to produce across all genres and for all outlets,” Dungey told Black Enterprise, in a press statement.

Dungey is a veteran leader in the television industry and has contributed immensely to the industry at large. Before her recent appointment, she served as the VP of original content and head of drama at Netflix, a position she held for less than two years. Before she joined the Netflix team, Dungey became the first Black woman executive to run a big network, ABC.

The veteran executive said he is elated to join the entertainment group “at such a time pivotal time in its history” and that she anticipates working alongside her new colleagues at Warner Bros. and across the Studios and Networks Group. She aims to go beyond what her predecessor, Peter Roth achieved in his time as chairman. “… we have so much opportunity available to us between Warner Bros.’ core businesses and HBO Max, I cannot wait to dive in.”

Dungey will begin her new role as chairman in early 2021, she will be in charge of several units of the television group including HBO Max, HBO, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, and many others.

“This is a homecoming of sorts for Channing, who was a production executive at Warner Bros. early in her career, and we’re excited to have her rejoin the studio,” Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group. “Channing is one of the most talented, visionary, creative, and respected executives working in television today.”

Sarnoff further describes Dungey as one who is well experienced in all “platforms and genres” and possesses a commendable relationship with the creative community. The WarnerMedia chair said Dungey is a “great choice” to head the Television conglomerate as it aims towards achieving its goals.

Dungey’s television path began at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television where she studied before landing her first job in the industry as a development assistant at the 20th Century Fox with Davis Entertainment.

She then moved on to become a story editor with Steamroller Productions, working on the development and production of films such as ‘On Deadly Ground’ and ‘Under Siege’. She later took her first job at Warner Bros., where she worked as a production executive, working on films such as “Bridges of Madison County”, “The Matrix” and “Heat”, amongst others.

In 1998, she left Warner Bros. and took up a position at film production company Material, where she partly worked on “Red Planet” and the 2002’s remake of “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells.  In 2004, Dungey was appointed president of ABC.

Twenty-two years after leaving Warner Bros., chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, Ann Sarnoff celebrates Dungey’s return to the company.