Linda Yaccarino
Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships
NBCUniversal

Linda Yaccarino is Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships, NBCUniversal. In this role, Yaccarino oversees all advertising sales and market strategy for the company’s entire portfolio of premium video content, including broadcast, cable and digital. She reports to Steve Burke, Chief Executive Officer, NBCUniversal.

Since joining the company in 2011, Yaccarino has transformed the NBCUniversal advertising sales organization. Her groundbreaking “one portfolio” plan has amplified the enormous power and reach of the company’s broadcast, cable, and digital assets. As a result, under Yaccarino’s leadership, NBCUniversal has been the only media company with record growth in volume and dollar value during the 2015 and 2016 Upfronts, leading the marketplace for three consecutive years.

In addition to bringing NBCUniversal “all together,” Yaccarino has propelled it into the future, solidifying its status as a technology-driven content company by pioneering a suite of cutting-edge data, analytics, and consumer targeting tools. Over the last two years, she has announced the company’s Audience Targeting Platform, NBCUx – a programmatic platform – and “NBCU+ Powered by Comcast” offering, which leverages NBCUniversal’s industry-leading assets and empowers clients to make better data-driven decisions. By becoming the exclusive sales representative of Apple's News app inventory and forging an innovative distribution and content partnership with AOL, Yaccarino has continued to lead NBCUniversal’s future digital opportunities, alongside its investments in trailblazing companies such as BuzzFeed and Vox Media.

Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Yaccarino served as Executive Vice President and COO of Turner Entertainment Advertising Sales and Marketing and Acquisitions.  During her tenure, Yaccarino continually grew Turner Entertainment’s business year-over-year and was a principal architect of the company’s “broadcast replacement” initiative, which elevated Turner Entertainment Networks to a premium position within the marketplace.  She was also instrumental in developing and enhancing “inContext,” the industry’s first-ever contextual platform that helps feature the right ad, in the right place, at the right time.

Among her many industry honors, Yaccarino was recognized in 2014 by Variety’s “Power of Women of New York” and The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment: Power 100” for the second year in a row.  She has also been named one of the “Ten Most Powerful Women in TV” by Adweek and as a “CEO of Tomorrow” by Business Week. Yaccarino sits on the boards of the Ad Council, Young Audiences New York (YANY) and the ACLD. Her community and professional affiliations include active involvement with WICT (Women in Cable & Telecommunications) and Penn State University, where she is on the Dean's Advancement Council in the College of Communications.