Jordan Levin

A proven creator, operator, and strategist in both traditional and new media, Levin has been instrumental in launching and managing numerous entertainment franchises that have left a lasting impact on popular culture over three and a half decades as an enterprising network and studio executive, Emmy-award winning producer, director, and digital entrepreneur. Acknowledged for his insightful understanding of youthful audiences, Levin’s experience spans a broad range of content genres in both long and short-form series and film, including scripted comedy and drama, unscripted formats, reality, documentary, news, podcasting, animation, branded entertainment, and live events. Considered a prominent thought leader, innovative builder, and collaborative partner, Levin has been recognized by many publications and organizations for his forward-thinking influence across the entertainment, sports, advertising, and technology communities.

With an academic background as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California, Levin transitioned into a full-time role as a Professor of Practice in the RTF department at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication in 2024, teaching courses in production and media industry studies, while tasked with building a new minor in Sports Production and Broadcasting. Concurrently, Levin leverages his professional experience as a strategic advisor and business consultant for select entertainment and sports enterprises. 

Previously, Levin was General Manager of the Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiary, Rooster Teeth, a dynamic media and entertainment company based in Austin, Texas that built a rabidly passionate community of engaged fans around the world with original content driving a diversified business model of direct subscription membership, advertising sales and sponsorships, content production, licensing and distribution, events, and e-commerce revenue, all which Levin oversaw. In 2019, then WarnerMedia leadership and the company’s founders recruited Levin to stabilize and restructure Rooster Teeth after years of aggressive investment-fueled speculative growth initiatives. Under his leadership, the company implemented operational rigor, introduced best practices around culture, and explored strategic alternatives for integration and sales options. In addition to tactical changes, he also accelerated key growth areas, including podcasting and third-party studio production, ensured value preservation of its core businesses and revenue streams, and created the celebrated Rooster Teeth Digital Content Creators program in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Access team. Ongoing corporate ownership and management churn, along with the challenging economics underpinning the contracting entertainment and digital media landscape, culminated in Levin leading the company’s eventual wind-down and both the meaningful corporate integration and external sale of the company’s premium proprietary assets, including The Roost, the company’s top 10 podcast network to Night Media, and “RWBY,” the company’s global anime franchise to VIZ Media. 

Before joining Rooster Teeth, Levin served as the CEO of Awesomeness, a multiplatform media company and premier entertainment brand serving the global Gen-Z audience. Previously owned by parent company DreamWorks Animation, along with Verizon and the Hearst Corporation, Comcast NBCUniversal recruited Levin in 2017 to evaluate the majority stake in Awesomeness it acquired following its purchase of DreamWorks Animation. In this capacity, he oversaw the growth of the company’s leading digital networks, its world-class film and television studio behind hits like the Netflix feature film, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” and Hulu’s critically acclaimed “PEN15,” as well as its full-fledged creative agency. In 2018, Levin successfully initiated and facilitated the sale of Awesomeness to Viacom. 

Formerly, Levin spent two years serving as the NFL’s first Chief Content Officer, overseeing the league’s content portfolio across the NFL Network, its digital properties, NFL.com and NFL Mobile, newsroom, social media channels, NFL Films, event programming such as the Super Bowl Halftime Show and NFL Honors, and external partnerships. Prior to the NFL, Microsoft sought Levin in early 2014 to join its nascent Xbox Entertainment Studios division as General Manager tasked with coordinating the launch of an interactive, subscription video-on-demand programming service creating original premium content for the global, over-the-top Xbox platform. In 2005, Levin built Generate, a pioneering studio and talent management company. He sold the company to Alloy Digital in 2011 and served as President of the new entity, during which time Alloy Digital subsequently merged with Break Media to form Defy Media. 

Earlier, Levin joined The WB Television Network (now The CW) in 1994 as part of its founding executive team where he spent a decade helping to launch, build and brand America’s most successful broadcast network targeting young adult audiences through hit programs like “Dawson’s Creek,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Felicity,” “Smallville,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Charmed,” “7th Heaven,” and “One Tree Hill,” amongst others. He became sole President of Programming in 2001, including oversight of ‘Kids’ WB,’ and two years later became the youngest CEO in broadcast television history. Levin began his career as a member of the creative team that revitalized the Disney brand in network television having developed shows including “Home Improvement,” “Ellen,” and “Boy Meets World,” managed series like “The Golden Girls,” and established the Walt Disney Writers Fellowship Program to create opportunities for underrepresented writers. 

A frequent keynote speaker, moderator, panelist and presenter, Levin is also a published author. A member of both the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of America, Levin made his directorial debut in 2004 with an episode of “Everwood.” He has lent his strategic acumen to a variety of boards: including non-profit organizations, academic institutions, political advocacy groups, early-stage media companies, and industry associations such as NATPE, for which he is a past Chairman, HRTS, for which he is a past President, the Los Angeles Board of Governors for the Paley Center for Media, Austin PBS, the Austin Television Festival, the Austin Film Society, the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication Advisory Council, for which he is a past Vice Chair, and the Los Angeles Network for Moody College, for which he was Chair. He was named the College's Alumnus of the Year in 2002, was the University Alumni Organization’s 2004 Outstanding Young Texas-Ex Award recipient, was selected as one of the University’s 125 Extraordinary Exes in 2010, and presented the Robert C. Jeffrey College Benefactor Award in 2018.