Jo Ann Ross

Jo Ann Ross is Chairman of Paramount Advertising.

Previously, Ross served as President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer at Paramount. She was promoted to this role in December 2019 following the close of the merger between CBS Corporation and Viacom. In this role, Ross led advertising sales for the company’s portfolio of iconic brands across all platforms as well as its ad-supported streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Additionally, Ross oversaw the company’s robust suite of data-driven advertising capabilities and creative marketing solutions, including EyeQ – Paramount’s premium video advertising platform.

An industry trailblazer with over three decades of experience in advertising, Ross became the longest-tenured sales head in broadcast television and the first woman to ever serve as sales chief of a broadcast network. Throughout her career, she built strong relationships with the world’s biggest advertisers and agencies. Prior to her roles at Paramount, she served as CBS’ President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer since October 2002, overseeing all sales for CBS Entertainment, Sports, Daytime, News and Late Night. She also oversaw CBS’ multiplatform advertising sales effort beginning in August 2017.

Before being named president of the CBS sales division, Ross served as Executive Vice President of Sales from September 1998 to October 2002, where she oversaw all sales for CBS’ primetime schedule. She also played a major role in creating new ways to sell Network programming, including reality, scripted, news and late-night genres. She joined CBS in 1992 as Vice President of Olympic Sales, in charge of Network sales for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994 and the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998.

Prior to joining CBS, Ross was with the ABC Network for three years, where she sold daytime before being named a Prime Account Executive. Before that, Ross worked at the media buying firm Bozell, starting as an assistant buyer and working her way up to Senior Vice President, where she ran the network buying department.

Ross has been honored with notable industry accolades throughout the course of her career, including recognition on the annual Adweek50 list, The Hollywood Reporter’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment,” AdAge’s “Media Mavens,” Broadcasting & Cable’s “Hall of Fame,” Multichannel News’ “Wonder Women,” The Center for Communications’ “Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication,” The Alliance of Women in Media’s “Gracies Leadership Award,” IRTS’ “Hall of Mentorship,” Variety’s “Women’s Impact Report” and Women in Sports and Entertainment’s “Woman of the Year” award, among others.