Starz Entertainment

CEO

Chris Albrecht is the chief executive officer of Starz, LLC. Albrecht is responsible for all business, strategic, organizational, legal and financial matters and for generating growth and new business opportunities for Starz Entertainment, Starz Media and Overture Films.

He joined Starz at the beginning of 2010, coming from Foresee Entertainment, which he founded in 2008. There, he made use of his deep network of relationships with both creative talent as well as institutional producers of filmed entertainment, television, and digital media to construct and execute business strategies that both anticipate and grow with the rapidly changing media landscape.

Albrecht spent more than 20 years at HBO and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2002 to 2007. Before becoming Chairman, he spent seven years as President of HBO Original Programming, directing all day-to-day operations of West and East Coast original programming for HBO, Cinemax and HBO Independent Productions. In addition he oversaw HBO Sports and HBO Film Programming. His tenure was noted for critically acclaimed series including  "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel,” "Deadwood," "Band of Brothers" and "Entourage." 

As President of HBO Independent Productions from 1990-1995, Albrecht guided development and production of comedy series for distribution including “Martin” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Albrecht joined HBO in 1985 as Senior Vice President, Original Programming, West Coast, having spent five years at International Creative Management.  At ICM, Albrecht signed and represented top comedians including Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg.  He also co-owned the famed Improvisation comedy club in New York City from 1975 to 1980.

Just prior to founding Foresee, Albrecht served as the President of IMG Global Media, heading the company’s diverse businesses including global sports production operations, global rights acquisition and digital media enterprises. In this position, he oversaw all IMG entertainment properties and acquisitions, including Tiger Aspect and Tigress Productions.
 

Albrecht has been a long time advocate for homelessness, youth, children’s health and environmental issues and has been a catalyst in focusing the entertainment industry on these and other areas.

He co-founded Comic Relief, which in its 20 years has raised more than $50 million to benefit the homeless, most recently those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. For a decade, he raised funds for Los Angeles’ Shelter Partnership by enlisting celebrities like George Carlin, Bill Maher and Lewis Black.

Albrecht founded and chaired the Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch, 3,000 acres of pristine California wilderness threatened by commercial development. In partnership with the NRDC, Heal the Bay, the Sierra Club and other organizations, this effort succeeded in preventing development and turning the land into a State Park. Heal the Bay honored Albrecht with its “Walk the Talk Award” for his leadership in saving Ahmanson Ranch.

The Los Angeles Mentoring Project recognized Albrecht with its Stand Up for Mentoring Award for his involvement with several youth mentoring programs.

Currently, Albrecht co-chairs a $250 million fundraising campaign for Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles.

He lives in Los Angeles and New York and has two daughters, Tess and Kate.