George Bodenheimer’s Bio

George Bodenheimer is the president of ESPN Inc. and of ABC Sports. During his tenure he has launched such spinoffs as ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, ESPN Plus, ESPN PPV, ESPN360, ESPN Motion, ESPNU, and ESPN Deportes.

Bodenheimer’s career with ESPN begain in 1981. After getting rejection letters from Madison Square Garden and different sports teams, Bodenheimer joined the Bristol, Conn.-based ESPN as a mail clerk. An affiliate sales job opened up a year later, but it required relocating to Texas. Bodenheimer ended up getting the job — he was the only person who applied for it. It was his first step toward the top.

Three years later, Bodenheimer was promoted to national accounts manager of the network’s Rocky Mountain region. Three years after that, he was named director of affiliate sales for the Eastern division. He was named vice president for the same division in July 1989 and then promoted to vice president of national affiliate sales in June 1991. In 1998, Bodenheimer became ESPN’s president. In 2003 he was appointed president of ABC Sports.

Bodenheimer serves on the boards of the National Cable Telecommunications Association, Cable in the Classroom, The V Foundation for Cancer Research (which ESPN founded with the late basketball coach, Jim Valvano), and the Cable Center, a Denver-based institution that educates and informs about the power of cable television. He has been named to the “CableFax 100” list of industry leaders each year since 1998. He is a member of the Cable Programming Committee of the Museum of Television and Radio.

Bodenheimer graduated from Denison University in 1980 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He is married with three children.