JOSIE OMAS PROMOTED TO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER, CBS CORPORATION

JOSIE THOMAS PROMOTED TO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER, CBS CORPORATION Published on: 01/09/2014 | All 2014 Press Releases

President and CEO Leslie Moonves Elevates

Veteran CBS Diversity Executive

Josie Thomas has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, CBS Corporation. The announcement was made today by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, to whom she reports.

In this role, Thomas will continue to oversee the Company's commitment to diversity across all of its businesses. She will lead multidimensional diversity strategies working with talent, national advocacy groups, vendors, professional service suppliers and company executives, among others. In addition, she will continue to be the executive sponsor of CBS's affinity and employee networking groups, while spearheading the CBS Diversity Council of employees, which serves to strengthen diversity and inclusion dialogue across the Corporation.

CBS's commitment to diversity is a key part of our growth strategy, said Moonves. I am very pleased to recognize the exemplary work Josie has done for CBS and look forward to all that she will continue to do to benefit this Company, our partners at large, the industry and the public we serve.

Thomas most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, CBS Corporation, a position she was promoted to in 2010. In 2005, Thomas created the CBS Writer Fellowship with the NAACP at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which gives emerging talent a supporting partnership. In August 2003, she launched the CBS Diversity Institute, which provides participants with access to the network television decision-making process. The institute now includes six components the Writers Mentoring Program, Writers Fellowship Program, Directing Initiative, Daytime Casting Initiative, Actors Career Workshops, and Sketch Comedy Showcases. She was named Senior Vice President of Diversity in 2000.

Previously, Thomas was Vice President, Business Affairs, CBS News (1995-2000), Director of Business Affairs, CBS News (1989-1995) and director of legal affairs for New York-based Trans World International. Prior to that, she was Broadcast Counsel for the Law Department of CBS Inc. Thomas began her career as a litigation associate at Anderson, Russell, Kill and Olick and later practiced intellectual property law at Weiss, Dawid, Fross, Zelnick & Lehrman.

Thomas is a graduate of Harvard College (B.A., cum laude, history), Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (J.D.) and a member of the New York State Bar. She was recently named Chair of the Board of Visitors at the newly launched School of Global Journalism and Communications at Morgan State University in Baltimore. She is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Diversity Committee. Currently she is a member of the NAACP Spingarn Award Committee, where she served as Chair in 2010. Among her many honors and awards, Thomas received the first New York Women's Chamber of Commerce Women of Excellence Award in Corporate Diversity, and she was honored as an exceptional woman executive in Profiles In Diversity Journals 11th Annual Women Worth Watching issue and was featured as Savoy Magazines Top Influential Women in Corporate America in 2012.

Thomas currently resides in New York and recently became a grandmother to Lucy Araujo.

About CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) is a mass media company that creates and distributes industry-leading content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world. The Company has businesses with origins that date back to the dawn of the broadcasting age as well as new ventures that operate on the leading edge of media. CBS owns the most-watched television network in the U.S. and one of the world's largest libraries of entertainment content, making its brand the Eye one of the most recognized in business. The Company's operations span virtually every field of media and entertainment, including cable, publishing, radio, local TV, film, outdoor advertising, and interactive and socially responsible media. CBS's businesses include CBS Television Network, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network, TVGN (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Lionsgate), Smithsonian Networks, Simon & Schuster, CBS Television Stations, CBS Radio, CBS Outdoor, CBS Television Studios, CBS Global Distribution Group (CBS Studios International and CBS Television Distribution), CBS Interactive, CBS Consumer Products, CBS Home Entertainment, CBS Films and CBS EcoMedia. For more information, go to www.cbscorporation.com.

* * *

LINK:	http://www.cbscorporation.com/news-article.php?id=1015...
	See more stories from cbs

Most recent headlines