Michael J. WolfPresident & Chief Operating Officer
MTV Networks
Michael J. Wolf is president and chief operating officer of MTV Networks, where he leads a wide range of business and technology operations for the company. Wolf, who assumed his current position in October 2005, had long been one of the leading consultants in the media and entertainment worlds, working with the world's largest and most influential companies and executives. Wolf's move to MTV Networks followed a decade in which he led the consulting teams working with the company. During that time, he was involved in virtually all facets of its growth and planning, and he worked closely with MTV Networks' long-time management and constituencies. At MTV Networks, Wolf guides advertising sales; affiliate sales and marketing; business and strategy development; business and legal affairs; finance; information systems and technology; creative services; research; and production operations. He also is in charge of setting and implementing the MTV Networks' multiplatform strategy to continue the company's pioneering tradition of serving its audiences across all screens with the most compelling content. MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms, with 120 channels broadcasting in 18 languages and reaching 400 million households in 164 countries. Wolf previously was the managing partner of McKinsey & Company's global media and entertainment practice, where he served as the top consultant to the chief executive officers, senior executives and boards of many of the world's leading media, entertainment and Internet companies. He also directed many of the most newsworthy and dramatic transactions, strategic alignments and innovations in these industries during the past decade. Before joining McKinsey in 2001, Wolf was a senior partner with Booz Allen & Hamilton, where he founded and led the media and entertainment practice. He also served on the board of directors and the executive management committee for Booz Allen and was the firm's chief marketing officer. Wolf has written numerous articles and op-ed pieces, along with the influential book, The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-Media Forces Are Transforming Our Lives. He serves on the boards of WNET and WLIW (PBS stations in New York City), the International Radio and Television Society Foundation, the Museum of Television and Radio Media Center and PENCIL (New York's "principal for a day" program). He is chairman of the UJA Federation's entertainment, media & communications division.