Rob Bennett

Brainstormer, Business leader, Concerned citizen, Marketer, Parent, Producer, Technologist, World traveler

Rob Bennett is General Manager & Executive Producer of MSN and is responsible for the programming of some of the web's most engaging digital media properties, spanning online video, music, television and film. Rob has spent the past 20 years working to fuse the power of technology with media to provide compelling services for consumers and new opportunities for marketers. Rob helped shape the company's online services strategy and drove key partnerships with dozens of media companies -- from large networks like NBC, CBS, FOX, and Viacom to original content producers like Reveille, Live Planet, Control Room and JibJab. Rob led MSN's productions of some of the largest online entertainment & sports event in history, including Live Earth, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In 2009 he partnered with BermanBraun to re-launch MSN's entertainment sites with Wonderwall, which quickly became the leading celebrity and entertainment news site for audience engagement. Before his work on MSN, Rob led marketing, technology and business strategy for several products at Microsoft, including Windows 95, Windows NT, and early versions of Internet Explorer. Rob also helped start two successful technology startups in the Seattle area and served as a strategic consultant to technology & media companies in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rob holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter's Digital Power list, profiled in Television Week's Digital Dealmakers, included in the Media Week 50, a list of the most indispensable executives shaping the future of media, and sits on the board of the New York Television Festival.