Sheereen M. Russell
Group Vice President of Advertising Sales & Client Partnerships for Inclusion Audiences
Sheereen M. Russell is a seasoned media executive and currently Vice President of Advertising Sales and Partner Solutions for both OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and Oprah.com. In her current role, Ms. Russell is responsible for driving sales, educating marketers, and developing content and data-based solutions to engage brands and consumers across OWN’s portfolio of cable, social and digital platforms.
Prior to OWN, Ms. Russell had a successful decade long tenure at Viacom, where she rose through the ranks and became VP of Brand Sales at Viacom—building innovative solutions for key advertisers within MTV’s portfolio of live on-air awards shows, experiential tentpoles, premium programming and digital platforms.
Ms. Russell made the leap to Viacom from Time Warner/Time Inc. in 2006 after serving as the National Sales and Marketing Director at Sports Illustrated. While at Sports Illustrated, she was instrumental in developing and launching a college sports magazine, Sports Illustrated on Campus. She designed and spearheaded a successful influencer panel to offer national marketers both custom marketing and insights around college millennials.
Ms. Russell was awarded the 2013 Presidential Award at Viacom for her revenue driving performance and team leadership and was recently honored with the NAMIC Luminary Award in 2018 for her work at OWN and in the media industry at large.
Ms. Russell earned a B. A. in Communications with a Minor in Journalism from Wake Forest University and began her media and entertainment career as a Publicist for Time magazine. She currently resides in the New York area with her husband and two sons.