Jo Ann Ross | Board of Directors
Jo Ann Ross is a broadcast network sales veteran who has served in various sales roles at CBS over the last 25 years. Ross, the first woman to serve as sales chief of a broadcast network and the longest-running sales head in broadcast television, was promoted to President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, CBS Corporation in August 2017. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the company’s multiplatform advertising sales effort. Ross previously served as President, Network Sales, CBS Television Network since October 2002, responsible for overseeing all sales for CBS Entertainment, Sports, Daytime, News and Late Night. In addition to her new responsibilities, Ross will continue to run the Network sales team in its many operations. She reports to Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO, CBS Corporation.
Before being named president of the sales division, Ross served as Executive Vice President of Sales at CBS (September 1998-2002), responsible for oversight of all sales for CBS’ primetime schedule. She also played a major role in creating new ways to sell Network programming, including reality, scripted, news and late-night genres. She joined CBS in 1992 as Vice President of Olympic Sales, in charge of Network sales for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994 and the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998.
Prior to joining CBS, Ross was with the ABC Network for three years, where she sold daytime before being named a Prime Account Executive. Before that, Ross worked at the media buying firm Bozell, starting as an assistant buyer and working her way up to Senior Vice President, where she ran the network buying department.
She was inducted into the DTC Hall of Fame in 2015 and Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame in 2013. For many years running, Ross has been one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment,” and she has been selected to the “AdWeek 50” list of the most indispensable executives behind the CEO from marketing, media and tech. Additionally, she was included on the list of power women in Variety’s 2018 Women’s Impact Report; she was named the Women in Sports and Entertainment “Woman of the Year” in 2005; and in September 2002 she was named one of Advertising Age’s “Media Mavens,” an annual compilation of the industry’s top media stars.
A cancer survivor, Ross has been a longtime supporter of MSKCC’s annual Cycle for Survival. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the John A. Reisenbach Foundation and The Ad Council.