Paramount Global has nominated attorney Mary Boies, former judge Roanne Sragow Licht and venture capitalist Charles Ryan to its board of directors.
Per the company’s proxy filing, the trio were nominated by the media giant’s governance committee after being introduced by a “non-management director and stockholder.” They will stand for election during the company’s annual meeting on July 2.
The move comes as Paramount and President Donald Trump are currently in mediation talks about a potential settlement of the latter’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS and “60 Minutes” for an Oct. 7 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s attorneys have claimed that the interview was deceitfully edited and caused him “mental anguish and confusion.” They also said that “viewers withheld attention from President Trump and Truth Social,” his social media platform, due to the “false advertising and tampering” tied to the Harris interview, resulting in a decrease in value for Trump Media and Technology Group and his other media holdings.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump recently shot down Paramount’s offer to settle the lawsuit for $15 million, with the president aiming to get at least $25 million and an apology.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s pending $8 billion merger with Skydance deal remains in regulatory limbo with the FCC and recently triggered its first automatic 90-day extension after failing to close by April 7. The agency’s review is due to a required transfer of broadcast licenses of Paramount’s 28 owned-and-operated local TV stations.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr has argued that the settlement talks with Trump are unrelated to the agency’s review of the Skydance deal. But he has warned that “all options remain on the table” in the agency’s ongoing investigation into allegations of “news distortion,” including potentially revoking CBS’ broadcast license if the network is found to have violated the agency’s public interest standard. As part of that investigation, CBS News turned over transcripts and video footage from the Harris interview.
Boies has served as counsel to Boies Schiller Flexner LLP since 2011, where she specializes in antitrust and corporate commercial litigation.
Before that, she was founder and managing partner of Boies & McInnis LLP, vice president at CBS Inc., general counsel of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics board, assistant director of the domestic policy staff at the White House and counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce. She’s also a member of the Stimson Center’s board of directors, the Middle East Institute’s board of governors, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and vice chair of the Business Executives on National Security.
Ryan is a co-founder and general partner of the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Almaz Capital. He has also been a director of Nebius Group N.V.
since 2011, where he serves on the audit committee, ClickHouse since 2021 and
PGI since 2005. Additionally, Ryan is a member of the Advisory Panel at Harvard Global Advisory Council and Capital Group International.
He co-founded United Financial Group (UFG) in 1994 and served as its
chairman and CEO until 2006. From 2006 to 2008, he was chief country officer and chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank Group in Russia after it acquired UFG’s investment banking business. From 2008 to 2022, he served as chairman of UFG asset management, which remained independent from the UFG acquisition. He also worked as a consultant at Deutsche Bank. In 2013, Ryan co-foundedLiberty Energy Trust and Liberty Infrastructure Trust, which provides solutions for financing and managing energy related and infrastructure projects in Pennsylvania and the Eastern United States.
Licht served as a judge for more than three decades, including as associate justice of the District Court of the Trial Court for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the First Justice of the Cambridge District Court, and the Regional Administrative Judge for Essex and Middlesex County Courts. She’s also an adjunct professor at Boston University Law School and Roger Williams University, as well as a special advisor in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.
Additionally, Licht served on the Anti-Defamation League of New England’s board of directors for 30 years, currently serves on the board of the New England Institute of Technology, and is a member of Legal Services Corporation Leaders Council, a national coalition that fights for the rights of low-income people.
The appointments follow the departure of four board members last year, who stepped down in the midst of Paramount and Skydance’s deal talks.
Charles Phillips Jr., who led the special committee that brokered the deal, also revealed in October that he would step down ahead of the Skydance deal’s closing.
In addition to Boies, Licht and Ryan,the current board members standing for reelection are Barbara Byrne, Linda Griego and Susan Schuman and current controlling shareholder and non-executive chairwoman Shari Redstone. Judith McHale, who is chair of the compensation committee, is not standing for re-election.
