Bridget Whalen, Vice President, Development, Co-productions, and Acquisitions, National Geographic Channel (USA)
As Vice President of Development, Co-productions & Acquisitions, Bridget Whalen is responsible for developing close to 400 hours of original programming per year. In her role, Whalen brings compelling, quality content to the channel by commissioning original productions and forming creative co-production partnerships with international broadcasters. During her five-year tenure, Whalen has spearheaded the development team that is responsible for bringing critically acclaimed series and Emmy®-nominated specials to the network. Over the past two years, NGC has seen the most Emmy nominations of any single cable network for news and documentaries excellence (2008, 2009). Most recently, Whalen developed Known Universe and Aftermath: Population Zero, programs that combine state-of-the-art CGI and cutting-edge developments in science with popular, critically acclaimed programming. Additionally, she has worked on top-rated series and specials that have propelled NGC to record ratings growth., including the series Alaska State Troopers, Hooked, Locked Up Abroad and specials such as Air Force One, NGC’s highest rated one-hour show ever, The Girl with Eight Limbs and Caught on Safari: Battle at Kruger.
Prior to joining NGC in 2004, Whalen was director of development at Michael Hoff Productions, Inc., in San Francisco, Calif., from May 2001 until December 2003. Here, Whalen supervised the development of nonfiction programming for a diverse slate of networks, including NGC, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel (TLC), Animal Planet, Home & Garden Television (HGTV), Bravo, History Channel and VH1. Her credits include Command Decisions on the History Channel; How’s That Work on HGTV; World’s Best on Travel Channel; I, Detective on Court TV; and Motorcycle Lightning and Dungeons of Alcatraz on the Discovery Channel. Before this, Whalen was international distribution manager at Aviva International: Image Entertainment, an international television and film distribution company.
Outside of NGC, Whalen produces and directs experimental documentaries and plays the accordion. Whalen is a member of Women in Cable Television (WICT) and the Film Arts Foundation. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California San Diego in La Jolla.
