In this position, Steve Raizes is responsible for strategic planning, operational initiatives and partnerships to create best-in-class events and products across the Viacom portfolio. He is based in the New York City offices. Raizes oversees independent business units comprised of audio/podcasting, live and experiential, licensing & merchandising and video. Some examples of initiatives within the respective areas include joining forces with Superfly, the company behind Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, to launch Comedy Central’s first festival next summer, audio partnerships with SiriusXM to launch Comedy Central Radio and Panoply Media to create the MTV News Podcast Network. His focus is to build fan engagement and drive revenue growth for popular and iconic intellectual properties, including South Park, Lip Sync Battle, Broad City, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Love and Hip Hop and many others. Raizes also spearheads major licensing programs with industry-leading partners such as Kid Robot, Marc Jacobs and Parkland, and transactional digital ventures with Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Sony. Previously, Raizes managed the Live Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Licensing & Merchandising teams for Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, Spike and VH1. He began his career in the entertainment industry as an assistant to Scott Rudin. He holds an MBA from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a specialization in Entertainment, Media and Technology and earned a BA in Sociology from Harvard University.