Bonnie Hammer
Television boss with a Midas touch
Title: Chairman, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment
Based: Los Angeles
Born: Brooklyn, New York
School(s): Boston University College of Communication
Bonnie Hammer has learned a lot about dealing with pressure in a 33-year (and counting) career in television where she oversees the USA Network and SyFy Channel and holds one of cable's most remarkable winning streaks.
The high point came last year, with USA's ratings victory over the CBS-owned CW network. It was the first time a cable channel ended a calendar year with a larger audience than one of the five top broadcast networks.
She hopes to build momentum with ambitious new efforts to freshen the programming and images of her channels. USA's new "Character Project" tries to add class to the TV home of World Wrestling Entertainment and original series with quirky characters deluding Psych, Monk and Burn Notice. Ads and a book will feature portraits of ordinary and famous people taken by 11 top photographers. And USA will produce a documentary with Tom Brokaw exploring the lives of average Americans.
Hammer also hopes to broaden the galaxy of viewers for SyFy now that she’s opened it to fantasy programming, instead of strictly science fiction.
Hammer is also in charge of emerging networks - including Sleuth, Chiller and Universal HD - and a newly created studio, Universal Cable Productions. Other executives run other NBC Universal channels, including CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. But Hammer's universe, with USA and SyFy, contribute more than $1 billion to NBC Universal's yearly profits.
Hammer was heavily influenced by her father, a penmaker who moved here as a child from Russia. "His word and a handshake were all that mattered," she says. "If I say something, I mean it. If I promise something, best as I can, I'm going to follow through. If I say I have your back, I genuinely mean it. And on our team, we work that way."
Her team bonded over many years as USA and SciFi passed through different owners, including Universal, Seagram, Vivendi and Barry Diller before ending up in 2004 with NBC Universal. Although she has strong views about projects, she tries to ensure that the team doesn't succumb to groupthink. "I can't tell you how many meetings I open up with, 'My voice is last,'" she says. "I don't want anybody to hear my opinion before I hear everybody else's opinion. I give everyone the license to disagree."
Hammer, who began her career at PBS, says she had to adjust to the idea of blurring the line between ads and entertainment. But it reflects the approach to work that continues to guide her.
"The world's changing, life's changing, economics are changing," she says. "The ground beneath you is shifting, and either you get sucked in by holding on to old ways or you take a giant step forward by taking some risks and seeing what happens."
"If I say I have your back, I genuinely mean it. And on our team, we work that way.""
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Who inspires Bonnie:
Joan Ganz Cooney
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