To most Gen Zers, Netflix is synonym to streaming, a relatively new form of entertainment consumption that didn’t really exist until the late 2000s. The company actually goes back much further. Founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in 1997, Netflix (NFLX) began as a subscription-based DVD mailing service competing with video stores such as now-defunct Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.
Netflix is one of the few companies that survived the digital era and reinvented itself with a new business model. Netflix officially became a streaming platform in 2007 and has since dominated the streaming market. As its business continues to expand—into original content production, advertising and gaming—its leadership team is also evolving.
Today, Netflix’s top decision-making team consists of about a dozen executives coming from a diverse background in filmmaking, advertising and Big Tech. And the majority of them are fairly new in their roles. Here are the 12 key people running Netflix’s rapidly growing entertainment empire:
Reed Hastings, cofounder, executive chairman and former CEO
Reed Hastings cofounded Netflix in 1997 with Marc Randolph, who left the company in 2003. Today, Netflix has a unique dual-CEO structure. But Hastings famously didn’t like that setup at the beginning. According to Randoplhs’s 2019 memoir, That Will Never Work, Hastings used a powerpoint presentation to argue for why he should be the sole CEO of the company, which resulted in Randolph stepping down into a lower leadership position in 1998.
Hastings was the sole CEO of Netflix for about two decades until he promoted Ted Sarandos to co-CEO in 2020. And he himself stepped down in 2023.
Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO since 2020
Ted Sarandos has been with Netflix since 2000 when it was still selling DVDs. In more recent years, Sarandos oversaw Netflix’s pivot to original content production in 2013, which led to the creation of early viral shows like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. Sarandos is also credited for coming up with the idea of releasing entire seasons of a show at once on Netflix. A 2013 profile by The Guardian lauded him for creating a “binge watching” culture. Also in 2013, Sarandos was named in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year.
Greg Peters, Co-CEO since 2023
Greg Peters joined Netflix in 2008 to lead its streaming and partnerships business. He also led the company’s expansion into Asia with its launch in Japan in 2015.
Before rising to co-CEO last year, Peter served as both chief operating officer and chief product officer. He was in charge of launching Netflix’s ad-supported subscription in 2022. He was named co-CEO in January 2023, replacing Hastings.
Spencer Neumann, chief financial officer since 2019
Before joining Netflix in 2019, Spencer Neumann held CFO roles at The Walt Disney Company and Activision Blizzard. He was hired by Netflix just two days after being fired by Activision, which led to a lawsuit filed by Activision accusing Netflix of recruiting talent “without regard to its ethical and legal obligations.”
During Netflix’s last quarterly earnings call with investors in October 2023, Neumann helped Sarandos and Peters defend the company’s decision to ramp up content spending from $13 billion in 2023 to $17 billion in 2024, even though the opposite approach helped the company weather last year’s writers’ strike.
Eunice Kim, chief product officer since 2021
Eunice Kim, a former Google executive, joined Netflix in 2021 as vice president of product and was promoted to chief product officer the same year. In an interview with Fortune in December 2023, Kim said her focus with Netflix moving forward would be introducing more user interaction features to Netflix’s mobile app while subscribers watch Netflix content on their TV, acknowledging the fact that many people divide their attention between the two screens. This strategy could bring new offerings to the mobile app, such as shoppable links, show-related polls and live discussions.
Elizabeth Stone, chief technology officer since 2023
Elizabeth Stone leads a team covering areas such as data and analytics, consumer research, software engineering and network engineering that are applied across Netflix’s various departments. Stone joined Netflix in 2020 as the head of the company’s data and insights division. Before that, she led the science division at Lyft and was previously the chief operating officer of the health care tech company Nuna.
Marian Lee, chief marketing officer since 2021
Marian Lee also joined Netflix in 2021, first as vice president of marketing for the U.S. and Canada markets. She was promoted within a year to oversee Netflix’s global marketing after her predecessor Bozoma Saint John stepped down.
Before Neflix, Lee spent eight years at Spotify, her final role being global co-head of music. She had also previously worked in marketing roles at J. Crew and Condé Nast.
Amy Reinhard, president of advertising since 2023
Amy Reinhard was promoted in 2023 to oversee Neflix’s advertising business, replacing Jeremi Gorman. Before that, Reinhard held leadership roles in Netflix’s studio operations and content acquisition units.
Reinhard joined Netflix in 2016 from Paramount Pictures, where she led the studio’s worldwide TV licensing and distribution.
Maria Ferreras, global head of partnerships since 2021
Maria Ferreras joined Netflix in 2017 from Google, where she spent a decade overseeing YouTube partnerships in southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Ferreras began at Netflix as the head of business development in these same markets. In 2021, she expanded her role to oversee global business development. Ferreras was named by Bloomberg Línea in 2022 as one of the 100 most influential Latinos of the year.
Bela Bajaria, chief content officer since 2023
Bela Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016, first overseeing unscripted content, like Queer Eye and Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, while also working on scripted content. She was promoted to Netflix’s head of global television in 2020 and led the programming of some of Netflix’s flagship shows, including Bridgerton, The Queen’s Gambit and Squid Game. And in 2023, Bajaria was named chief content officer.
Before Netflix, Bajaria was previously president of NBCUniversal’s Universal Television, where she was the first woman of color to lead a studio at the company.
Scott Stuber, chairman of Netflix film since 2023
Scott Stuber joined Netflix in 2017 with a filmmaking background. Most notably, he was previously the vice chairman of worldwide production at NBCUniversal’s Universal Studios, where he produced Ted and Role Models.
Stuber is credited for bringing in powerhouse directors, including Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, to Netflix and luring actors like Denzel Washington even when there was some stigma from the creative community. He established Netflix studio’s credibility by overseeing both mainstream and award-winning projects for the company. In 2023, Netflix films earned 16 Oscar nominations and six wins.
Update on Jan. 22: Stuber announced on the eve of the 2024 Oscar nominations that he will leave Netflix in March to start his own media company.
Mike Verdu, vice president of Games since 2021
Mike Verdu’s division at Netflix should get a boost in attention this year based on Netflix’s recent guidance to investors that some of the extra $4 billion the company plans to spend in 2024 will be dedicated to gaming.
Before joining Netflix in 2021, Verdu was the head of AR/VR content at Meta, overseeing Meta’s internal studios and third-party companies that brought VR games to Meta’s Oculus suite of devices.