TV Executive Doug Herzog ’81 to Chair Emerson Trustees

Emerson Trustee Doug Herzog ’81, LHD ’08, P ’13, the former senior cable television executive responsible for greenlighting some of the most culturally relevant, long-running shows in TV history, will be the next chair of Emerson’s Board of Trustees. Herzog was unanimously elected to succeed Eric Alexander ’78 as chair in June, when Alexander’s term concludes.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have someone as experienced and accomplished as Doug Herzog stepping into this role as we approach our 150th anniversary in 2030,” said Emerson President Jay Bernhardt. “In addition to his extensive media experience and expertise, Doug is also a long-time supporter and passionate champion of his alma mater. I look forward to partnering with Doug even more closely in his new role as we write the next chapter of Emerson’s extraordinary story.”

As former president of Viacom’s Music & Entertainment Group, Herzog oversaw Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, TVLand, and Logo, building some of cable TV’s biggest brands and launching hits that capture and shape our cultural consciousness. Under his leadership, Viacom released The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, South Park, Key & Peele, and Inside Amy Schumer, among others. 

He was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2014, and was honored by Emerson with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1991 and an honorary degree in 2008. Last year, he was inducted into the WERS Hall of Fame for creating a daily reggae show that lasted over 30 years.

“Leading Emerson’s Board during this period of both its evolution and its return to its roots could not be more exciting,” said Herzog. “I’m so thrilled I can continue to give back and support the college that helped me become who I am today, ensuring current and future students have the same type of experience and benefits I did when I was at Emerson.”

Herzog said he has Emerson to thank for so much: his wife, Noreen Farrell-Herzog ’81, whom he met in 1978; many good friends; the opportunity—from the moment he set foot on campus—to pick up a camera and start making art; and the ability to build a lasting cultural contribution, whether that’s a hit franchise or a longtime reggae spot on a college radio station. So when, in 2010, he was asked to join the Board of Trustees, he was eager for the opportunity.

Now that he has more time to dedicate to the Board, he said he’s excited to help steer the College into a future that is guided by Extraordinary Emerson 2030, the College’s strategic plan. One silver lining of the COVID pandemic, Herzog said, was that it forced the Board to meet more often, which brought them closer together and led them to not just focus on current obstacles, but to define what challenges the College might face down the road.

Herzog said communication is critical at all levels of an organization, and he praised the working relationship between the Board, particularly Alexander, and President Jay Bernhardt. Everybody is “rowing in the same direction,” he said.

“The College has built tremendous momentum under President Jay Bernhardt’s leadership, and I’m looking forward to partnering with him as he leads the College into the future, guided by Extraordinary Emerson 2030, our strategic plan,” continued Herzog. 

“I think the development of the strategic plan was really galvanizing, so everybody was ‘all hands on deck,’ with Jay leading the charge with his team and actually doing the hard work and leading the creation of the plan. I think that went a long way toward not only developing a future vision for the College, but the kind of relationship and collaboration and partnership that the Board would have with Jay and the College leadership,” he said.

Both Bernhardt and Herzog expressed strong praise for Eric Alexander and the outstanding leadership he showed as board chair during a very challenging time in higher education. “Eric has been a strong and steadfast leader when the College needed that stability and support,” said Herzog. “I will always be grateful for Eric’s wise and inspiring guidance, and I deeply respect his legacy as an outstanding and transformational chair of our Board of Trustees,” said Bernhardt. 

Alexander expressed his confidence in Emerson’s future and lauded the choice of Doug Herzog as his successor after a five-year tenure as chair.

“It has been an extremely gratifying experience to work with Jay and the Emerson Board of Trustees to design and put in place a plan that truly sets Emerson up for long-term success. As I finish my term, I could not be more pleased to hand the reins to Doug, who is both an outstanding leader and a seasoned executive,” said Alexander. “There is no one better prepared to step into the role of chair than Doug, who understands Emerson’s past and so clearly sees its future. I wish the Board, Jay, and Emerson nothing but the best as they continue the forward momentum toward becoming the world’s best college for communication, media, and arts.”

The world that Emerson now operates in has changed in so many ways from the environment Herzog graduated into in 1981. But in the end, the strategic plan is about “getting back to Emerson’s roots” as a leading school of arts and communication, Herzog said, and that’s “absolutely the right path for us.”

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, but at our core, we are storytellers at Emerson and storytelling is never going away,” Herzog said. “We just have to approach it in slightly different ways than we did in 1977, and even 1997. So in 2027 and far beyond, that’s who we’ll be.”