Corporate
April 4, 2005
PR Guru Barbara Brogliatti Calls It Quits After 37 Years
(April 4, 2005 – Burbank, CA) – Barbara S. Brogliatti, Executive Vice President & Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Warner Bros. will retire from Warner Bros. and the industry and segue to teaching, philanthropic endeavors and stomping grapes in the Napa Valley, it was announced today by Barry M. Meyer, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. and Alan F. Horn, President & Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros.
Brogliatti will end her full-time responsibilities (her 18-year tenure) at Warner Bros. on May 31, but will help in the selection and transition of her replacement as well as serve as an advisor and consultant to Warner Bros. and Time Warner on industry issues and general PR matters.
“Barbara is one of the most respected and talented public relations executives in the industry, she is truly without peer,” said Meyer. “Her expertise, experience, instincts and breadth of knowledge have made her an integral part of Warner Bros., Time Warner and the industry. We wish her only the best in the next chapter of her life.”
“I’ve known and respected Barbara for some thirty years,” said Horn. “Like many in the industry, I have often relied on her throughout the years for expert PR counsel, and now I look forward to relying on her to help train the next generation of top PR professionals and, of course, for excellent wine.”
“It’s simply time to move on; I am leaving the whine for the wine,” said Brogliatti. “Ray and I have established a wonderful life in the Napa Valley, but the rigors and the pressures of this career, of this industry, just don’t allow us enough time to enjoy it. I have been working 24x7 since I graduated from college, and that has taken a huge toll on my golf swing, my back hand, my sightseeing and my wine tasting.”
Brogliatti came to Warner Bros. in October 1990 via Lorimar Telepictures (which was acquired by Warner Communications, Inc. in January 1989), having been enticed back by Leslie Moonves, then President of the Warner Bros. subsidiary Lorimar Television. (Soon after the acquisition Brogliatti left to form her own short-lived, but very successful public relations and marketing firm with such clients as Norman Lear/Act III Productions, Haim Saban’s Saban Entertainment, ACI and Jean Stapleton and Barbara Walters). Moonves named her Senior Vice President, Publicity & Promotion for Lorimar Television, but she soon took on expanded duties including PR oversight of Warner Bros. Television and all the television distribution endeavors. In 1997, then Warner Bros. Chairmen Bob Daly and Terry Semel, created a corporate communications post for her and she was named Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Warner Bros. Inc. When Meyer took over the reins as Chairman, he added Chief Corporate Communications Officer to her mantle and in July of 2004, promoted her to Executive Vice President & Chief Corporate Communications Officer.
As Executive Vice President & Chief Corporate Communications Officer, she served as the official spokesperson and chief press officer and strategist for the Studio. In addition to her duties at the Studio, Brogliatti served as the official press strategist and spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) during its contract negotiations with the industry guilds (WGA, SAG/AFTRA, DGA), and served as chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) PR/educational task force focusing on intellectual property protection and industry-wide anti-piracy initiatives.
Prior to Lorimar, she spent some 11 years with Norman Lear’s Embassy Communications/TAT/Tandem, where she oversaw publicity, promotion and advertising worldwide. She began her career in show business in the publicity department at the CBS Television Network, two weeks after graduating from UCLA in 1968.
During her career, Brogliatti has been in charge of the publicity for such landmark series as “All in the Family,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” “Dallas,” “Full House,” “Friends” and “ER,” as well as the launch of The WB Television Network. Other industry leadership highlights include leading all press and marketing activities for television’s unprecedented fundraiser “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” which garnered some $150 million in pledges to help victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. ; acting as chief communications strategist for the Coalition for the Repeal of the Financial Interest & Syndication Rule (the industry group made up of all studios and producers) and serving as a member of the publicity advisory sub-committee for the Committee for Prudent Deregulation, from which spawned the formation of TPEC (Television Publicity Executives Committee), which she co-founded and served as its first vice chairman.
Brogliatti serves on the Board of Governors of the UCLA Foundation, is a member of UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program Council and serves on the Advisory Board of The Rape Foundation. She is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of America.
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