Susan Lyne, CEO, AOL Brand Group

As CEO of the AOL Brand Group, Susan Lyne oversees AOL’s core experiences, which includes AOL.com, AOL mail, the AOL client, and AIM, as well as the suite of AOL’s content brands, including TechCrunch, Engadget, StyleList, Patch, Moviefone, and MapQuest. She brings her expertise in content, product, commerce, and design into building brands and customer experiences while also focusing on key partner and advertiser relationships. Lyne was most recently chairman of Gilt Groupe, the innovative e-commerce company that pioneered “flash sales” in the US. Prior to joining Gilt, Lyne served from 2004-2008 as president and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) where she led the company’s recovery and return to profitability. During her tenure at MSO she was named “Publishing Executive of the Year” by Advertising Age and received a Matrix Award from New York Women In Communications. From 1996 to 2004, Lyne held various positions at the Walt Disney Company and ABC including EVP, Development and New Business; and EVP, Movies and Miniseries. In 2002 she was named president of ABC Entertainment where she was responsible for the network’s primetime schedule and oversaw the development of shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy. Lyne spent 15 years in the magazine industry before joining Disney. She was managing editor of New Times and The Village Voice and, in 1987, created and launched Premiere Magazine, where she served as editor-in-chief and publication director. She serves on the board of directors for Starz LLC and as vice chairman of the board of directors at Gilt Groupe. Lyne is a trustee of Rockefeller University and The New School, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Moderated by
Kara Swisher, AllThingsD

Kara Swisher currently coproduces and cohosts The Wall Street Journal’s “D: All Things Digital,” with Walt Mossberg. It is a major high-tech conference with interviewees such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many other leading players in the tech and media industries. The gathering is considered one of the leading conferences focused on the convergence of tech and media industries. She and Mossberg are also the coexecutive editors of a tech and media Web site, AllThingsD.com, where her online-only version of the “BoomTown” column appears. Swisher worked in The Wall Street Journal’s San Francisco bureau. For many years, she wrote the column, “BoomTown,” which appeared on the front page of the Marketplace section and also on The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com. Previously, Swisher covered breaking news about the Web’s major players and Internet policy issues and also wrote feature articles on technology for the paper. She has also written a weekly column for the Personal Journal on home issues called “Home Economics.” Previously, she worked as a reporter at the Washington Post and as an editor at the City Paper of Washington, D.C. She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her graduate degree at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She is also the author of “aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web,” published by Times Business Books in July 1998. The sequel, “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future,” was published in the fall of 2003 by Crown Business Books.

This event is exclusive to Media Council members and other invited guests. To find out if you're eligible to join the Media Council, contact Stephanie Kousoulas at 212-621-6732 or mediacouncil@paleycenter.org.

Information about upcoming Media Council events, or learn more about past Media Council events.