Jeff Shell is an American media executive who served as the CEO for NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, from 2019 to 2023, and has been appointed to serve as president of New Paramount in 2025.
In 2001, Shell served as president of FOX Cable Network Group before joining Comcast in 2004, where he was president of Comcast Programming Group. In 2019, it was announced that he would succeed Steve Burke as CEO of NBCUniversal.[2] Shell assumed the role on January 1, 2020, and reported directly to Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts.[3]
In May 2020, The New York Times reported that Shell was considering replacing CNBC's current primetime offerings of business reality shows with right-wing talk shows, in a bid to appeal to conservative viewers.[6]
On April 23, 2023, Shell was fired from NBCUniversal after an investigation into sexual harassment, which began when a female employee filed a complaint against him.[7] Shell had an extramarital affair with the employee from 2012 to 2021, who was subsequently identified as CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble.[8]Variety reported that the law firm Gibson Dunn was hired to conduct the investigation, and corroborated the complaint after reviewing records of Shell and Gamble's email communications. Shell was then dismissed with cause, and did not receive any severance pay.[8]
Shell is married to Laura Fay Shell, who worked for Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky as his planning deputy until 2005.[5] His sister is Dana Shell Smith,[10] and his brother is Dan Shell of IMG College.[11]
^ abTorok, Ryan (October 29, 2015). "Moving and shaking: AFMDA Humanitarian Award, Tour de Summer Camps and more". Jewish Journal. AJC, an advocacy organization focusing on Israel and domestic issues, awarded Jeff Shell, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman, the Dorothy and Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award — the highest honor AJC bestows upon members of the entertainment industry.
