• DeDe Lea, Executive Vice President of Global Public Policy and Government Relations for Paramount, former Executive Vice President of Global Government Affairs of Viacom, and former Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the National Association of Broadcasters.

DeDe Lea is Executive Vice President, Global Public Policy and Government Relations, Paramount. In this role, which she assumed in December 2019, Lea leads the worldwide government relations function for Paramount, overseeing the development and execution of the company’s government relations strategy and public policy work domestically and internationally. Lea reports to Bob Bakish, President and Chief Executive Officer, Paramount.

Lea brings two decades worth of leadership experience and institutional knowledge to Paramount. Lea guides her team in advocating public policy positions for the company and the content distribution and film industries at the international, national, state, and local levels. In addition to driving support for television and film production tax credits, Lea provides political, policy and regulatory expertise to the Paramount senior management team, including continued regulatory advice with respect to federal, state and local rules and mandates pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to her current role, Lea was Executive Vice President of Global Government Affairs of Viacom since 2013, having previously served as Executive Vice President, Government Relations beginning in 2005. Lea held various government relations positions at Former Viacom starting in 1997, except 2004 to 2005, when she was appointed Vice President of Government Affairs at Dallas-based television broadcasting company Belo Corp. Before her career at Former Viacom, Lea was Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the National Association of Broadcasters.

In honor of her work to strengthen diversity and inclusion in media and entertainment, Lea received the 2020 Executive Leadership Award from the T. Howard Foundation. Lea has been named one of the media industry’s Most Powerful Women and a Top Lawyer by Cablefax magazine and was recognized as one of the Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America by Black Enterprise Magazine. Additionally, Lea was a recipient of the 2014 NCTA Vanguard Award for Government and Community Relations.

Lea obtained a J.D. from Georgetown Law; and graduated cum laude from Howard University with a B.A. in Broadcast Management. She serves on the boards of the Motion Picture Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and the MedStar Washington Hospital Center.