Karen Horne
Senior Vice President, Equity and Inclusion, Warner Bros. Discovery
Karen Horne is a senior global leader with extensive experience leading teams for several Fortune 500 companies. She has been recognized as a Diversity and Inclusion expert and a pioneer pipeline builder. Karen was most recently Senior Vice President, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, North America at Warner Bros. Discovery. In this role she oversaw DEI efforts for creative talent development pipeline programs, workforce, content and production while working closely with the Global Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer to create a global strategy for the company.
Prior to joining WarnerMedia, Karen spent over a decade at NBCUniversal, where she was Senior Vice President, Programming Talent Development and Inclusion. In this role, Karen was responsible for overseeing in-front-of and behind-the-camera primetime diversity efforts. The programs and initiatives she created and/or developed became the industry’s gold standard and a blueprint for many other companies
Horne designed, implemented and oversaw Nickelodeon’s Writer Fellowship Program. She was the Director of Writer Development & Special Projects for Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Network Television. Previously, she served as Director, West Coast, for the Black Filmmaker Foundation.
Horne was also a Co-producer for the HBO Emmy Award-winning animated series “Spawn.”
Her early career includes stints at ABC as the Executive Assistant to the President, ABC Entertainment, as well as positions at ABC Television Network Group and ABC Sports.
Ms. Horne has spoken both nationally and internationally on diversity and inclusion best practices and has been honored with several awards and recognitions for her diversity and inclusion work and her service to underrepresented communities. She serves on the boards of RespectAbility, Montclair State University’s School of Communication and Media, The Alliance of Women Directors, The Black House Foundation, the Bay Area’s Urban League and is a member of several entertainment industry organizations.
