Jennifer O’Connell is an industry leader and tastemaker with 30 years as a network executive, studio executive and executive producer.

In 2023, O’Connell co-founded Velvet Hammer Media with Rebecca Quinn. The company quickly built a strong slate of formats including The Big Bakeover for CW, Empty Nest Refresh and Best Bite Wins for Roku and unannounced projects for Netflix, Hulu, NBC and Amazon. Velvet Hammer also secured an unscripted partnership with powerhouse talent Issa Rae and her HOORAE Media and received a strategic investment from Endeavor’s Nonscripted Content Group.

In 2025, O’Connell took on the additional role of CEO of Pantheon Media Group, part of Endeavor’s Nonscripted Content Group, where she oversees more than 20 global labels, including live specialists Done+Dusted, premium documentary specialists Breaklight Pictures and Ladywell Films, true-crime producers Texas Crew Productions, among more.

Previously, O'Connell was Executive Vice President, Non-Fiction & Live Action Family Originals at HBO Max, where she shaped all the platform’s unscripted and alternative programming. Her bold, unfiltered, award-winning slate spanned premium documentary (The Way Down, What Happened Brittany Murphy?, Class Action Park, Heaven’s Gate and LFG), lifestyle, competition and dating reality hits (Selena + Chef, The Hype, FBoy Island and Legendary) and chart-topping event specials (Friends Reunion, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary and The Fresh Prince Reunion). On the scripted front, O’Connell oversaw live-action series for co-viewing audiences, including the Head of the Class reboot with Executive Producer Bill Lawrence and the critically acclaimed Gordita Chronicles from Zoe Saldana and Eva Longoria, who directed the pilot.

In HBO Max’s first year, O’Connell’s department won Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Programming at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards, receiving the honor again in 2022. That same year, Variety recognized O'Connell as a “Titan” of Unscripted TV in its 2022 Reality Impact Report.

Prior to HBO Max, she was Executive Vice President and Head of Worldwide Alternative Programming at Lionsgate and held senior roles at NBCUniversal, Core Media Group, Shed Media U.S., Disney Channel and the Family Channel. Her long list of projects includes household titles like Selling Sunset (Netflix), The Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo), The Biggest Loser (NBC), Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC) and Kevin Hart: What the Fit (YouTube).