Mark Pedowitz

Mark Pedowitz was named President, The CW, in April 2011, overseeing all aspects of the network, including programming, sales, marketing, distribution, finance, research and publicity.

In 2014-15, The CW had its most-watched season in seven years, and it launched its most-watched series ever in The Flash. The CW has continued to change the perception of the network brand among both viewers and critics; with Jane The Virgin, the network received major awards recognition for the first time last year, including an AFI Award, a Peabody Award, and its first-ever Golden Globe Award nominations, and win, for star Gina Rodriguez. This year Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom won both the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for best actress in a television comedy.

Under Pedowitz's guidance, The CW has made several bold, transformative moves over the past few seasons, building and broadening out the network's audience, bolstering its primetime schedule with more original programming, launching the network's first-ever summer schedule, anchored by the classic improv comedy Whose Line is it Anyway? and Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and becoming more aggressive in the digital and social media space, especially through its landmark deals with Netflix and Hulu. The CW also launched its digital studio, CW Seed, which recently debuted the original animated DC Entertainment series Vixen, and also added hundreds of hours of streaming content, including the complete series runs of The OC, Pushing Daisies, The Ben Stiller Show, and other fan favorites, as well as every episode of Whose Line is it Anyway?.

A veteran network and television studio executive, Pedowitz joined The CW with a strong background in program development, production and business affairs. As President of ABC Studios from 2004-2009, his leadership produced multiple seasons of successful programming that fed the Walt Disney Company's distribution pipelines worldwide, including such hit series as Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Castle, Army Wives, Ghost Whisperer and Criminal Minds.

Before joining The CW, Pedowitz helmed an independent production banner, Pine Street Entertainment, where he executive produced a pilot for Lifetime entitled Meet Jane. Another project, The Crazy Ones, starring Robin Williams and written by David E. Kelley, for Twentieth Century Fox Studios and CBS, premiered in 2013 on CBS.

Prior to joining ABC Studios, Pedowitz served as Executive Vice President, ABC Entertainment Television Group, overseeing all business, production, legal and financial affairs for ABC Primetime and Touchstone Television, as well as business/legal affairs for ABC Daytime and Late Night. He joined ABC in 1991 as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs and Contracts.

Before joining ABC, Pedowitz was Senior Vice President, Business Affairs and Administration, MGM/ UA Television Production Group, a position he had held since 1987. From 1985-87, Pedowitz was Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel, The Landsburg Company. From 1980-85, he was Vice President, Business Affairs, Reeves Entertainment.

Pedowitz is currently a board member of BMI; he has also served on the Executive Committee of the board of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and previously was on the board of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society.

Pedowitz began his career in the entertainment industry as an attorney at MCA, Inc.