Introduction
Brian Graden (born 1963) is an American television executive.
Career
Graden grew up in Hillsboro, Illinois. and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1981. He graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1985 with a degree in business, and later graduated with an MBA from Harvard University.
He began working in television, ultimately becoming an executive at FOX, during which time he saw Trey Parker and Matt Stone's animated short film Jesus vs Frosty.He commissioned them to make another film to give as a Christmas card to his friends.The film, The Spirit of Christmas, became well known online and among celebrities and college students. He later helped Parker and Stone develop the animation into the series South Park.
In November 1997, Graden was promoted to executive vice president of programming at MTV following theabrupt resignation of Andy Schuon.
Graden is the former President of Programming at MTV, VH1, CMT, and the LGBT channel, Logo, the launch of which he assisted in. He departed MTV Networks in late 2009.
In the April 2007 issue of Out Magazine he was ranked the number ten most powerful gay person in America. He has also been named one of the most influential executives in reality programming.