The Television Academy Foundation has named two new members to its board of directors: Nne Ebong, VP, overall deals, series at Netflix, and Jamila Hunter, executive VP of programming and development at Freeform, Disney General Entertainment’s young-adult network. Ebong and Hunter have been elected to three-year terms, effective immediately.
“We are thrilled to welcome Nne Ebong and Jamila Hunter to our board,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy Foundation. “We look forward to implementing their collective expertise and strategic guidance in the Foundation’s future plans for educational programming and community outreach to help build a more inclusive and diverse television industry.”
As VP of overall deals, series at Netflix, Ebong is responsible for leading the development of series under creative partnerships with Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland and President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, among others.
Prior to joining Netflix, Ebong was creative lead at Wiip, a global film and television studio. During her time there she played an integral role in the studio’s efforts to identify, develop and produce projects for the cable, streaming and international marketplace, including HBO’s The White House Plumbers starring Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux, and Amazon’s The Summer I Turned Pretty created by New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han.
Ebong also headed drama development for ABC Studios from 2013-2018 where she shepherded programming from some of the industry’s top writers and producers including Rhimes, John Ridley, Guillermo del Toro and Susannah Grant. Series Ebong developed include Emmy® Award winners and nominees such as Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, American Crime, Once Upon A Time, Revenge and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Ebong has been honored by the “I Have A Dream” Foundation, Los Angeles. She serves as a Big Sister through The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. She is also a mentor for Who’s in the Room, a program launched by Time’s Up to help diversify the executive and producer ranks throughout the industry.
As EVP of programming and development at Freeform, Hunter oversees all scripted and unscripted development and current originals for Disney General Entertainment’s young-adult network. She returned to Disney in 2020 after acting as president of Khalabo Ink Society, Kenya Barris’ production company. Prior to this, Hunter was sr. VP of ABC Comedy where she oversaw the development of all network sitcoms. Under her leadership, ABC launched the highly rated reboot of Roseanne and The Conners. Before stepping into this role, Hunter was VP of ABC Comedy where she worked on projects ranging from Emmy-nominated black-ish to Last Man Standing. Prior to joining ABC, she worked her way up the executive ranks through various roles in comedy, alternative and digital programming at NBC, Bravo, OWN and 20th Century Fox Television.
Hunter is also on the board of the Ghetto Film School and HBCU in Los Angeles, two organizations that share the Foundation’s focus on innovating ways to diversify the talent pipeline. In addition, she works with Women in Film and Arts for LA and serves as a peer group advisor for the Television Academy’s Executive Peer Group.
