Lori McFarling
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
A highly respected industry leader with more than 20 years of media, marketing, partnership strategy, and business development expertise, Lori McFarling oversees Discovery Education's global marketing initiatives, including public-private partnerships, events and public affairs activities worldwide. Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content that supports the implementation of Common Core, professional development, assessment tools and the largest professional learning community of its kind.
In this role, McFarling leads the development and execution of marketing initiatives that support educators in transitioning classrooms to digital learning environments, optimizing the power of media and the resources of Discovery to accelerate academic achievement. Partnering with Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, foundations, trade associations and philanthropists, McFarling also leads the development of community engagement, corporate citizenship and educational initiatives designed to support digital learning in under-resourced areas such as STEM, college and workforce readiness, life skills, sustainability, social media literacy, health and wellness, and environmental education. She manages a team which extends Discovery Education's mission of transforming teaching and learning by developing strategic, customized education solutions that are delivered to educators, students and their families at no cost. Aligned to educational standards, these solutions span partnerships with a variety of like-minded organizations and include nationally-recognized and award-winning programs such as the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, and the Toyota TeenDrive365 Video Challenge, among others.
Previously, McFarling served as chief operating officer for Animal Planet and Discovery Kids Media. In this position, she oversaw business operations and administration, led cross-functional activities across the divisions' business units and directed the networks' strategy for brand extension, digital media and product development. McFarling also partnered with the company's international leadership team to support worldwide growth of the Animal Planet brand across all platforms.
Prior to that, McFarling served as senior vice president of distribution and marketing strategy, overseeing all aspects of Discovery's relationships with the country's four largest distributors (Comcast, Time Warner, DirecTV and Echostar), as well as distribution strategy and affiliate marketing for Discovery's stable of U.S. cable networks nationwide. She also has held posts as vice president, affiliate marketing, and as director of TLC sales strategy and planning.
McFarling serves in several industry leadership roles as a member of the National Education Association Foundation's Board of Directors, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT), the Association of Cable Communicators and has been named to Leadership Montgomery's 25th Anniversary Class. She is a graduate of the WICT Betsy Magness Leadership Institute fellowship program, and in 2006, was named to the ""Wonder Women" class of television executives. McFarling has been recognized with numerous awards, the Vanguard Award for Marketing, the industry's highest honor for marketing excellence, and the WICT Liberty Award, acknowledging her "demonstrated excellence in the areas of leadership, innovation, excellence, risk taking, teamwork and dedication to the cable and telecommunications industry." She was also named one of CableFax's Most Powerful Women in Cable for 2014.
McFarling earned her bachelor's degree in English and journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder and resides with her husband and three children in Bethesda, Maryland.