Richard Plepler was Chairman and CEO of Home Box Office, Inc., a position he held from 2013 - 2019, culminating 28 years at the company. A brand known for excellence, HBO curates over 3,000 hours of content on its platforms, including original series, documentaries, HBO Films, and HBO Sports. Under Plepler’s leadership, HBO experienced its largest growth in company history while continuing to raise the bar with some of the most innovative, honored, and critically-acclaimed programming on television. Plepler led the creation of the company’s standalone streaming service, HBO NOW®, which launched with Apple in March 2015. Today, the service represents over 20% of HBO’s subscription revenue and is now a major source of revenue for the company.
Under Plepler’s leadership, HBO greenlit some of their most successful series including Emmy® Award-winners Game of Thrones, Veep, Silicon Valley, Big Little Lies, Girls, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Newsroom, Barry, Succession, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Notably, Game of Thrones, HBO’s most viewed series ever, continues to hold the record for the most Emmy Awards® ever won by a scripted series with a lifetime total of 47 Emmys®. Overall, HBO was recognized with 165 Emmy Awards® with wins in all major categories and 9 Golden Globe Awards®.
Plepler has received numerous accolades during his career, including being inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame by The Cable Center (2018) and Broadcasting and Cable magazine’s Hall of Fame (2013); named Media Person of the Year by The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (2014); earned the Directorate Emmy Award® for his impact on the industry from the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2015); the prestigious Driver of Change Award at the FT ArcelorMittel Boldness in Business Awards (2015); and the Variety Vanguard Award for contribution to the TV business (2017).
Plepler serves on the Board of Directors for the Council on Foreign Relations and the New York Public Library, in addition to also serving on the National Advisory Board of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
Plepler resides in New York with his wife Lisa and daughter Eden.