Debra Lee
Chairman & CEO, BET Networks
Lee remains on a roll pushing to invigorate the BET brands with programming that reflects their audience. Series including “Being Mary Jane and “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” and BET’s first miniseries, “The Book of Negroes,” all hit high notes this past year. She was behind the rebranding of Centric as the first network designed for black women and has addressed issues in the African-American community such as voting rights, mothers against urban violence and has even raised funds for the Flint water crisis. With a 30-year career at BET Networks and as one of the highest ranking African-American women in media, Lee has earned numerous accolades across the cable industry and is hugely respected—from being named the first African-American to serve on the Twitter board to being appointed by the White House to the President’s Management Advisory Board.