Chris Mccarthy

Chris McCarthy is President and CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, where he leads a global consortium of media assets that reach over one billion people in 180 countries and oversees some of the most iconic brands in entertainment including: Paramount, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Smithsonian and more. McCarthy transformed the business by consolidating nine separate businesses into one unified portfolio, which has nearly doubled its audience, streamlined expenses and grown profits. In addition, he spearheaded the expansion of the business with the launch of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, which now produces more than100 series per year and drove an aggressive push of the brands into social media, amassing one of the largest global footprints of any business with nearly 700 million social followers.

Under McCarthy’s leadership, the new Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios produces some of today’s biggest and most culturally defining hits including Yellowstone, Emily in Paris, South Park, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Billions, Dexter: Origins and The Daily Show. In addition, the studios produced a string of #1 hit series that have driven record setting growth at Paramount+ with Showtime, making it the fastest growing SVOD service three years in a row, including 1883, 1923, Yellowjackets, Tulsa King, George and Tammy, Mayor of Kingstown and Special Ops: Lioness, to name a few.

A believer in the power of purpose driven business, McCarthy created industry-wide social equity and empowerment coalitions to drive meaningful change across mental health and civic engagement. He spearheaded a cross-sector effort to create Vote Early Day, a new national holiday that drove record youth turnout in the 2020 U.S. Presidential and 2022 U.S. Midterm elections. In addition, he initiated the launch of a mental health coalition of 2,000+ businesses, government agencies and cultural leaders to create the first ever Mental Health Action Day, which has become an annual global event. Alongside major media companies, McCarthy convened the Mental Health Storytelling Coalition to reimagine the role content can play to guide conversations, inspire action, and ultimately drive behavioral and cultural changes to tackle the growing mental health crisis.

McCarthy was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning a B.S. with Honors in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. McCarthy’s work has been honored with five Oscar® nominations, more than three dozen Emmy® Awards and two Peabody® Awards.

McCarthy is the Executive Champion of the BEAT+, Paramount’s Black Employee Affinity Group, a member of the LGBTQ+ community and is on the Board of Directors for Coursera, a publicly traded for profit company, and the Animal Medical Center of New York, a non-profit organization.