Anne Sweeney Becomes A Director At Netflix

Anne Sweeney said she wanted to be a director when she left her gig as co-Chair of Disney Media Networks. And today she is, but not in the way you might think: She just became a director at Netflix, which is beefing up its output of original series and movies. With her addition, plus that of Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, the Netflix board grows to nine members.

Netflix Logo
Netflix Logo

“We look forward to benefiting from Brad and Anne’s perspective as we continue to build our global Internet TV network,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says.

This morning’s release doesn’t say what board committees the new members will join or whether they have any conflicts that might require them to recuse themselves from particular decisions.

RelatedBen Sherwood To Succeed Anne Sweeney As Disney/ABC Television Group President

Sweeney said in October that technology was a key to her strategies during her 11 year tenure at Disney. The studio “was the first to put its content on Netflix,” she said in a speech at Mipcom. She recalled being impressed when Apple’s Steve Jobs walked into the Disney offices with the video iPod and showed how to watch shows such as Lost anywhere. She also noted that she recognized early on that platforms including Netflix and iTunes soon would be able to reach virtually every viewer.

In leaving the company, she said that she wanted to become a TV director. Her creed, she added, was “do what scares you the most.” Her board work for Netflix likely won’t interfere with her career aspirations.

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