Co-Founder
HGTV
Susan Packard is co-founder of Scripps Networks Interactive and former Chief Operating Officer of HGTV. She was the 2nd employee of SNI and helped to build the company to a market value of over $10 billion. She began her cable career at HBO, then moved to NBC and was part of the start-up team for CNBC. In 1994 she joined HGTV and became Chief Operating Officer in 1995. Under Packard’s helm, HGTV became one of the fastest growing cable networks in television history. Today HGTV is available in more than 99 million U.S. homes and distributed in 175 countries and territories. CableWorld magazine honored her among “The Most Influential Women in Cable” numerous times. In 2008 she was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.
Packard is active in national, local business and community affairs. She has served on the University of Tennessee’s College of Communication’s Board of Advisors. She was named a College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni at Michigan State University. She is past vice chair of the board of an independent collegiate day school and an advisor on job training programs for the homeless as board member of Lazarus Ventures LLC.