Steve Tao

Vice President, Current Programming | The CW

Steve Tao started his career in entertainment as an intern for Walt Disney and Touchstone Pictures.  During his tenure, he worked on movies including THE DOCTOR, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and OPERATION DUMBO DROP and WHITE SQUALL.

In 1995, he moved to ABC Television as Director of Drama Series.  During his tenure, he rose to Head of Dramatic Series and oversaw the development and current production of the Emmy Award winning THE PRACTICE, ONCE AND AGAIN, and NYPD BLUE.  He served as Senior Vice President of New Line Television, overseeing the series BREAKING NEWS for TNT.  He ran original series, movies, and specials at VH1 as Senior Vice President of Programming out of both the New York and Los Angeles offices, overseeing ONE HIT WONDERS, ROCK THE HOUSE, and PLAY’D:  A HIP-HOP STORY.  

As producer, he started up Gale Anne Hurd’s television company Valhalla Television, where he independently set up projects at all of the broadcast and cable networks, as well as developed feature films.  He then headed up scripted development at FremantleMedia North America, producer of AMERICAN IDOL, and got the company into the scripted comedy (NBC, Fox) and cable markets (FX, Showtime, Lifetime).  He also initiated development of online series to television, and made the company’s first sale to Comedy Central.  Most recently, he is consulting and executive producing for Participant Media to help launch their television division.

A native Californian, he earned his B.A. in Economics and Mathematics at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.  He also earned an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.  He currently sits on the board of directors of CAPE, the CMC Alumni Association, The Claremont Entertainment Mafia, and has served as judge for the James Beard Foundation and the National Association of Minorities in Cable.