Jana Bennett

|birth_name = Jana Eve Bennett |birth_date = |birth_place = Cooperstown, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = Oxfordshire, England |occupation = Media executive |employer = BBC (1979–1999; 2002–2012)
Discovery Communications (1999–2002)
A&E Networks (2012–2017) |education = St Anne's College, Oxford (BA)
London School of Economics (MSc) |spouse = |children = 2 }} Jana Eve Bennett (6 November 1955 – 11 January 2022) was an American-born British media consultant; member of the board of the British Library; member of the board of the Headlong Theatre Company. Previously she was President and General Manager of History, and H2 at A+E Networks in New York City. She joined A+E Networks in June 2013 as President of The Biography Channel (later bio) and Lifetime Movie Network. Bio was rebranded as FYI in July 2014.

Prior to joining A+E Networks, she was President of BBC Worldwide Networks and Global BBC iPlayer. In that role she was responsible for BBC Worldwide's television channels, which operate in more than 100 countries, and the development and roll out of the commercial global iPlayer. She was also Worldwide's Managing Director for Latin America with oversight of the company's businesses in the region. She sat on Worldwide's Executive Board and on the Board of UKTV, Britain's second largest pay-TV group. She took up this role in February 2011 moving from the BBC's UK public service where she had been Director of Vision at the BBC from 2006. As Director of BBC Vision, she headed "the largest multi-media production, commissioning and broadcast group of its kind in the world" with overall responsibility for BBC Television and its online services, BBC Films and BBC Productions. Previously she was Director of Television (appointed January 2002). In her two most recent roles at the BBC, Jana Bennett "steered the BBC TV portfolio through its transition into the mainstream digital age." She was the first female director of the BBC, and oversaw the launch of numerous shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, Miranda, and the reinvented Doctor Who franchise. She was previously Executive Vice President and General Manager at Discovery Communications in the US.

Bennett was a member of the governing board of the Pew Research Center. She was also a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company and was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 1999. Provided by Wikipedia