Pioneer Productions Adds Howard Swartz as CEO

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) alum Howard Swartz has been appointed as Pioneer Productions’ CEO.

In his new role, effective immediately, Swartz will be in Pioneers’ London headquarters, reporting to Tinopolis CEO Jennifer Roberts. Swartz, as CEO, will help to expand Pioneer Productions’ slate of content across genres — from feature documentaries and limited series to new formats aimed at younger audiences.

Swartz’s career includes being the senior VP of docs and specials at Warner Bros. Discovery. In this role, he oversaw over 100 hours of Shark Week programming and launched several limited docuseries and feature docs. Swartz’s portfolio includes the Emmy-nominated docuseries Serengeti and the feature documentary January 6th.

“Pioneer Productions has always stood for intelligent, ambitious and entertaining factual content,” said Swartz. “In the midst of this global television transformation, I’m looking forward to building a slate that honors the company’s DNA while creating space for fresh voices, new topics and formats that can entertain and inform audiences across broadcast, streaming, digital and whatever platform might come next.”

Roberts said, “Howard brings deep industry experience, a proven balance of strategy and execution and strong relationships that I know will open doors to storytelling talent at the highest levels. His appointment marks a new chapter in Pioneer’s story, building on a great legacy and laser-focused on where factual is headed next.”

Before joining WBD, Swartz served as executive VP of production and development at Stephen David Entertainment. In his early career, he held VP roles at Arrow Media and the Discovery Channel and an executive role at PBS.

Additional projects he has worked on include Explorer, Five Years on Mars, Inside the Living Body and Incredible Human Machine.