CNN.COM EXECUTIVES
CNN.com’s executive team guides the overall award-winning editorial coverage and business strategy for CNN.com, the Web site of the Most Trusted Name in News.
GENERAL MANAGER CNN.COM
David Payne
David Payne is senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com, the world's leading news and information Web site and the division responsible for CNN's Internet, wireless, VOD and broadband businesses. As general manager, Payne oversees all of CNN.com's operations, including business development, administration, finance, marketing, product development and editorial operations.
Payne is based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta and reports to Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.
Previously, Payne was senior vice president of business operations and development for CNN Worldwide, where he oversaw the business endeavors of CNN's domestic networks and Internet businesses and was additionally responsible for negotiations with CNN's primary vendors and partners.
Payne has been with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. since 1993, serving in a variety of positions, including senior vice president and general manager of CNN/Sports Illustrated Interactive (where he was named to Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal's annual "Forty Under 40" list as one of the 40 most influential sports executives under 40), vice president of business affairs for Turner Sports, and vice president and Team Counsel for the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Thrashers. Prior to joining TBS, Payne served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C.
Payne earned a bachelor of arts degree in public policy studies from Duke University, where he graduated cum laude. He also earned a law degree, with honors, from Duke University.
SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF CNN.COM
Mitch Gelman
Mitch Gelman is the senior vice president and senior executive producer of CNN.com. Named to this position in January 2001, Gelman oversees editorial operations for CNN.com, including coverage, production, programming and presentation of news and information.
Gelman is based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta and reports to David Payne, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com.
In this role, Gelman guided the recent relaunch of CNN.com, the latest evolution in online news, resulting in an intuitive, enjoyable Web service that integrates video, photos, text, audio and interactive graphics to create a fresh and unique storytelling experience.
Previously, Gelman was executive editor of CNNSI.com. Before joining CNN in 1998, he was projects editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and from 1995 to 1997, he was with Starwave Corp as editor-in-chief of ESPNET Sports Zone. Gelman was a reporter at New York Newsday from 1987 to 1995, covering law enforcement, politics and immigration. He also worked for TIME Magazine in London and New York, and has written one non-fiction book and seven books on sports for children.
He shared in a Pulitzer Prize awarded to the New York Newsday staff for spot news reporting in 1992.
Since 2001, CNN.com has reported on the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, changes in the American cultural and political landscape and on Hurricane Katrina. For that coverage, CNN.com has been recognized for editorial excellence by the National Press Foundation and the Online News Association and has received the RTNDA's Edward R. Murrow Award.
Gelman earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF CNN.COM
Rena Golden
Rena Golden is the senior vice president and executive producer of CNN.com. Named to this position in June 2007, Golden is based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta and reports to Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and senior executive producer of CNN.com.
For CNN.com, Golden manages the site's daily production of news and information. Previously, Golden served as a senior vice president for CNN International, where she led the network through its ambitious "regionalization" strategy and managed the launch of many hours of cutting-edge news and feature programming.
At CNN International, Golden oversaw the editorial production, program development, talent and day-to-day operations of the network. Through her guidance, CNN International successfully integrated the networks' trademark world news and global business news with double-anchored regional programs from London and Hong Kong. In the fall of 2002, she led the development of Your World Today, the four-hour global news program anchored from CNN's headquarters in Atlanta.
Golden earned a bachelor's degree with honors in English literature from the University of North Carolina. She serves on the advisory boards of Atlanta Woman magazine and the New York Museum of Television & Radio's Documentary Festival and is a member of the Turner Diversity Committee.
