Neil Braun: Viacom Entertainment
Who: Chief executive officer, Viacom Entertainment (VIA), 1988-94; president, NBC Television Network, 1994-98
Where: Pace University’s Lubin School of Business
What: Dean, guest lecturer
Braun joined a growing list of former executives tapped to run business schools when he was named dean of Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in June 2010. Braun also flits in and out of the classroom as a guest lecturer. He says he has his most rapt audience any time the discussion topic is M&A negotiations. During his time at Viacom, the company bought Blockbuster and Paramount Pictures. “Students hang on every word when you can tell them what was really going on,” he says of those deals in Bloomberg Businessweek.