John Lack

Firemedia Partners, Founder of MTV and Co-founder of ESPN

Chief Partner of Firemedia Partners, an international media consulting practice. In his 35-year career in the media and entertainment industries, Lack is best known for creating MTV, now an integral part of global culture. As Chief Operating Officer of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Co. from 1979-1984. Lack developed the Movie Channel, cable TV’s first 24-hour pay network and Nickelodeon, the award-winning children’s channel.

Most recently, Lack was a founding partner and CEO of Firebrand, the 1st multi-platform network dedicated to commercial culture, in addition to playing pivotal and pioneering roles in several other media companies.

In the early ‘90s, Lack was EVP of Marketing and Programming at ESPN.

A graduate of Boston University’s School of Communication. Lack holds a Master’s Degree in broadcast journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University and completed course work for a Ph.D in Communication at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught a Master’s class in Media Perspective at The New School University in New York, where he was also a Director of the Media Management Program.