How Bill Roedy built the world's largest entertainment businesses
You wouldn’t associate someone who commanded three nuclear bases at the height of the Cold War in the 1970s with running the world’s largest entertainment businesses. But that’s exactly what Bill Roedy has done, and this book chronicles that journey.
Roedy graduated from West Point (the US military academy) and served in Vietnam before commanding nuclear bases in North Italy. He left the army after 11 years to pursue an MBA from Harvard. He joined HBO in 1979 (when it was still a subscription channel that broadcasted only nine hours a day), and was part of the team that helped build it into the giant that is today. Ten years later, he headed to London to head what was essentially a start-up: MTV Europe.
(This story appears in the 16 March, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)