Scott M. Mills is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BET, the nation’s leading provider of quality content from Black creators. He reports directly to President of Paramount Global, Bob Bakish, and Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, David Nevins.
During his four-year tenure as BET President, Mills sparked invaluable change that structured and positioned the legacy brand for future success in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Since his appointment in 2018, Mills expanded the BET brand well beyond the framework of a traditional cable network, into the multi-platform media powerhouse that it is today with the launches of BET+, a premium subscription streaming service; BET Studios, an innovative studio venture providing equity ownership to Black content creators; BET’s wide-reaching digital platforms and footprint; and much more. Bringing A-list content creators into the fold, Mills set new precedents for BET, and, by extension, ViacomCBS, making the global media brand the largest commissioner of Black premium content through partnerships with Tyler Perry, Lena Waithe, Kenya Barris, Lee Daniels, and many others.
“Under Scott’s leadership, BET has reached new heights with continued commercial success and profound cultural impact during a period of immense industry and social change,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO of ViacomCBS. “Scott has been instrumental in the expansion of the BET brand as the premier destination for Black entertainment and top talent, and he has spearheaded transformative initiatives that not only give back to the community but also play a critical role in representation in front of and behind the camera. BET is a source of inspiration and pride across the company, and I’m excited for BET’s strong future ahead with Scott at the helm.”
Under Mills’ executive leadership, BET will continue to build upon its 40-year legacy of entertaining Black audiences and its commitment to entertain, engage, and empower the Black community. Philanthropy has always been central to BET’s mission, however Mills’ dedicated social impact strategies have inspired company- and industry-wide change. One such example is Content for Change, a multi-pronged initiative that leverages data to effect societal change and combat bias, that was recently adopted across the entire ViacomCBS organization. Whether investing in Black communities, discovering, and fostering Black creatives and talent, or rallying Black leaders across business, media, and entertainment to raise nearly $20M in COVID-19 relief to support Black communities hit the hardest by the virus, BET remains the industry leader in Black premium content and steadfast in its duty to the Black community.
“BET is uniquely positioned to thrive at the intersection of content, community, and culture,” said Mills. “Through the power of the BET brand, our incredible team and great partners, we’ve established leading business franchises across linear, streaming, digital, and most recently, content development and distribution. It is an extraordinary privilege to steward such a culturally significant brand with an enormous legacy as a catalyst for change. As CEO, I look forward to working with my immensely talented BET colleagues and our great partners to ensure that BET continues to thrive and remains ideally positioned to succeed in the ever-changing media landscape.”
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Constance M. Orlando is an award-winning media executive recently named Executive Vice President of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc.. A pop culture visionary, Ms. Orlando oversees all genres of original programming, including scripted offerings “The Quad,” “Being Mary Jane,” and specials including, Black Girls Rock! and ratings juggernaut BET Awards. Ms. Orlando also leads the BET News department, overseeing critically acclaimed specials on Ferguson and Baltimore. She also ushered BET into the documentary space with BET Truth Series, which in its inaugural year produced award-winning projects Katrina 10 Years Later, Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ and Stay Woke.
Ms. Orlando previous roles with BET include Senior Vice President of Specials, Music Programming and News, and VP of Original Programming. Ms. Orlando was part of the network’s largest expansion into original programming in its history. Her ability to lead, inspire and create hits resulted in a list of accomplishments including BET Presents: Love & Happiness, an Obama Celebration, Sunday Best, TD Jakes Presents: Mind, Body, & Soul, The Steve Harvey Project, Monica: Still Standing and scripted series The Game, which scored record-breaking ratings.
Ms. Orlando is Executive Producer of all tentpole events, including the BET Awards, the #1 program in cable television history among AA viewers and a top 10 awards show on television amongst total viewers.
Prior to joining BET Networks, the Syracuse University graduate ran her own full service production company, CMO Productions, Inc. While running CMO, Orlando served as Executive Producer of award-winning director Hype Williams’ Big Dog Films. Among CMO’s crowning triumphs was a partnership with music icon and businessman Jay-Z to produce the first of its kind, direct-to-video movie soundtrack The Streets Is Watching.
Outside of work, Orlando is passionate about advocating for and providing support to women and children in need, so in 1998 she launched a non-profit foundation, ‘Just The Girls’. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Clark Atlanta University’s TV department as the Programming Committee Chair. Orlando accolades include NAMIC’s “Top 40 Under 40”. Her work has earned her nine NAACP Image Awards (“The Mo’Nique Show” 2010, “Sunday Best” 2011, “Black Girls Rock!” 2012/2013/2014/2016, “The Game” 2012, “Ali: The People’s Champ” 2015, and Love & Happiness: an Obama celebration 2016), and five NAMIC Vision Awards (“Black Girls Rock!”).
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