Cori Abraham

SVP, Development, Documentary & Crime

Oxygen Media

As Senior Vice President, Development and International, Oxygen Media, Cori Abraham is responsible for overseeing the development team. Based in Los Angeles, Abraham reports to Rod Aissa, Executive Vice President, Original Programming and Development, while also heading up International for Oxygen, reporting to Frances Berwick, President, Lifestyle Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

Abraham is the executive behind the development of series’ creative concepts, innovative formats, and fresh talent, while also working closely with the NBCU international sales team. She is currently leading the charge to develop new series which reflect Oxygen’s new programming filter, featuring authentic, proudly imperfect and diverse characters with stories that are culturally relevant for multicultural women including “The Prancing Elites Project,” “Pretty.Strong,” “Rich in Faith” and “Finding My Father.”

On the pulse of industry trends, Abraham and her team are credited with developing some of the biggest and most buzzed about reality hits including the “Preachers” franchise and “Sisterhood of Hip Hop,” which earned the network’s highest-rated freshman series premiere in 2014 among all key demos. Abraham also heads up International for the network where her responsibilities include curating global formats that can be brought back to the U.S. as well as the global sale of Oxygen branded programming.

Prior to Oxygen, Abraham served as Vice President of Development at Bravo overseeing development on both coasts. During her tenure, she executive produced such hits as the two time Emmy® award-winning “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” and developed “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” She was also behind the development of the freshman series “Bethenny Getting Married?,” which at the time became Bravo’s highest rated series premiere in the network’s history. Previously, she served as Director of Development and Executive Producer at VH1 and spent three years at FX as the Director of Comedy Development.

A highly regarded industry executive and member of The Television Academy, Abraham has won two Emmy® Awards and her shows have received numerous NAMIC and GLAAD awards. She is an active participant with NBCUniversal’s Executive Mentor Program, providing guidance, advice and a positive outlook on the media business to more than six mentees during her involvement, many of whom are now heads of production companies and top industry executives. Abraham has also served as an industry expert speaking on many panels including those at Realscreen Summit and has also been honored by CableFAX as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Cable.”

Abraham graduated from the University of Wisconsin with two bachelor degrees, one in Communications Arts and the other in Theatre Arts.

Speaking at: 30 Minutes With: Cori Abraham, Oxygen (12:15pm-12:45pm); Team America: U.S. Commissioners Talk TV