Erica Gruen

Biography

An Emmy Award-winning TV producer and executive, as well as digital pioneer, Erica Gruen is known for masterminding one of television’s biggest brands as President/CEO of The Food Network.

Today Professor Gruen creates brand, content and business development strategies for the world’s largest media and entertainment companies and for the emerging start-ups that seek relationships with the same. She has been a Technical Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a mentor in TechStars’ ed tech and agriculture tech programs and the FOOD-X accelerator, and an advisor to and investor in leading ed tech, music tech, green tech and food tech ventures. She is also Senior Advisor to Oaklins Desilva+Phillips, the leading mid-market M+A firm in TMT.

Professor Gruen started one of Madison Avenue’s first digital advertising agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive, and was named to New York Magazine’s first “Cyber 60” list. Along with the Branded Entertainment unit she also founded there, she built groundbreaking branded content for a select set of Fortune 100 brands, including Procter & Gamble, General Mills, and Toyota.

In addition to her teaching duties at NYU Stern, Professor Gruen is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at the NYU Steinhardt School of Education, where she designed and teaches Lean Launch entrepreneurship courses. She is the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Fellow award from The University of Wisconsin/Madison for her leading work in digital media, and is an Advisor to the Weinert Entrepreneurship Center at the School of Business there. She is also a trustee of the James Beard Foundation (awarding the yearly “culinary Oscars”).

Courses Taught

• Entertainment & Media Industries

Academic Background

B.A., Psychology
University of Michigan

M.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Educational Psychology