By the time Pearlena Igbokwe was offered the job of president of Universal Television in 2016, she already had an impressive résumé. She’d climbed the ranks over 20 years at Showtime, and then excelled during a four-year stretch as head of NBC’s drama department. But the prospect of moving out of the network hierarchy to lead one of the industry’s biggest television studios was daunting.
It meant shifting from buying TV shows for NBC to selling shows to networks and streamers. Igbokwe didn’t feel ready for the demands of running a large division with dozens of shows in production at any given time. But NBC Entertainment’s leaders, Bob Greenblatt and Jennifer Salke, assured her she was.
But they didn’t.” Igbokwe would, of course, rise to the challenge. Today, she serves as NBCUniversal’s chairman of Television Studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock Scripted originals. She oversees a wide swath of scripted programming across NBC and Peacock, and she’s NBCU’s top executive overseeing TV production through three distinct labels: Universal Television, Universal Global Television and Universal Television Alternative Studio.
Igbokwe’s stature within NBCU has grown following the company’s separation in January from the linear cable channels that created Versant Media. And it’s likely to rise more as NBCU prepares to become a standalone company after its planned spinoff from parent company Comcast in mid-2027. Donna Langley, a 2014 Power of Women honoree, hails the Nigerian-born, New Jersey-raised executive as “an important force at NBCUniversal” and in the wider industry.
That combination of judgment, vision and leadership is rare.” Igbokwe’s initial caution about taking on the top TV studio job was not without merit. Her elevation to president of Universal Television proved to be a challenge. From a few early missteps, she discovered the importance of investing her time in being an effective manager of people.
The boss is the person who just tells you what to do. Being a leader is the person who has to inspire other people to do their best work,” Igbokwe says. Greenblatt, who worked with Igbokwe at Showtime from 2003-2010, was the one who recruited her to NBC in 2012.
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