Samantha Cooper is Executive Vice President, Distribution and Business Development at Viacom. She previously served as Senior Vice President of Content Distribution and Business Development at Viacom Media Networks and BET Networks since 2007. In her role, Sam leads sales and negotiations for all linear and digital distribution partnerships across BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Logo, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1. She reports to Tom Gorke, Head of Distribution and Business Development at Viacom.

During her 20 years with Viacom, Sam has been a strong advocate for the company’s brands and a powerful force behind its expansion across cable, satellite and telco providers, as well as driving digital content distribution deals with subscription video aggregators, electronic sell-through providers and other mobile and Internet-based content distributors. Throughout her tenure, Viacom has grown its media networks portfolio from four to 14 major brands that now reach approximately 4.3 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide.

Sam served as a national board member for Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), a 10,000-member organization, for four years. She was chosen to participate in WICT’s Betsy Magness Leadership Institute in 2011, and completed its Senior Executive Summit at The Graduate School of Business at Stamford University in 2014. She has since served as an executive liaison and mentor for other program participants. Prior to joining Viacom, Sam was in content distribution at the Food Network and ran communications for the Cable and Television Association of Marketing. She holds a BS from University of Florida and currently lives in Westchester County, NY, with her husband and two daughters.