Pearlena Igbokwe

Pearlena Igbokwe is a Nigerian-American television executive of Igbo heritage. Since 2025, she has served as chairman of Television Studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock Scripted at NBCUniversal, with responsibility for NBC's entertainment programming, scripted originals for Peacock and Universal Studio Group.

Igbokwe became president of Universal Television in 2016 and chair of Universal Studio Group in 2020. Her 2020 appointment made her the first woman of African descent to lead a major United States television studio.

Early life and education Igbokwe was born in Lagos to an Igbo family during the Nigerian Civil War. During the conflict, her family lived in a village affected by bombing and relied on airlifted food. Her family emigrated to New Jersey when she was six. She later described television as an introduction to American culture and one of the ways she learned English.

Igbokwe studied English at Yale University. After her sophomore year she joined an NBC summer-associate program, later completing internships in research, sales and news. After earning her bachelor's degree, she worked in financial services before obtaining an MBA from Columbia Business School. While at Columbia, she worked at HBO.

NBC and Universal Television In 2012, NBC appointed Igbokwe executive vice president of drama development. During four years leading NBC's drama programming, she helped develop The Blacklist, Blindspot and This Is Us. During her tenure, the studio had more than 40 series in production for NBC and other networks and streaming services. Its slate included Russian Doll, The Good Place, New Amsterdam, The Bold Type, Good Girls, FBI and The Gilded Age. By 2022, the group employed more than 450 people and produced programming for more than 30 platforms. In 2024, InStyle featured her as one of its Women of Impact.

Professional service Igbokwe serves on the board of directors of the Peabody Awards, the Friends Board of the Saban Community Clinic, the board of the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors.