Seasoned PBS Executive Joins Diversified Search

 Denielle Pemberton-Heard, who for the past 15 years has helped oversee key content acquisition and partnership initiatives for national public television, has joined Diversified Search, one of the nation’s top five executive search firms, as its new General Counsel and Managing Director, effective immediately. She will be based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.

“Talented, driven, and with a deep professional network across multiple sectors, Denielle is a dream addition to Diversified Search,” said Dale E. Jones, the firm’s President and CEO. “We are confident she will bring invaluable expertise and insight not only in her role as General Counsel for the firm, but also across every one of our 17 individual practices.”

In addition to serving as General Counsel for Diversified Search, Pemberton-Heard will also serve as a senior advisor to STEMconnector, a professional services firm committed to increasing the number of STEM-ready workers in the global talent pool. Owned by Diversified Search, it provides a platform to engage leaders in both public and private sectors who collectively are reenvisioning the workforce.Working with pioneering leaders across over 200 organizations, its overall goal is to inform, stimulate, and connect leaders with a passion for and vested interest in growing a STEM-ready workforce.

A highly experienced arts and entertainment executive, Pemberton-Heard most recently served as Group Counsel, Programming and Business Affairs at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the nation’s largest noncommercial media enterprise. In this capacity she directed transactional work related to the production, distribution and syndication of content across all platforms on behalf of PBS and its 300 plus member stations, and led negotiations between and among PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, on-air talent, program funders and foundations. Before joining PBS, she served as Group Counsel for Thales, Inc., a French-owned communications concern, and as Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs at Time Life (TWX). She has also held in-house positions at Discovery Communications, Inc. (DISCA). She began her law career in private practice with Connecticut’s Wiggin and Dana, and was subsequently associated with the New York firm of Cowan Liebowitz and Latman, where she focused on intellectual property litigation.

Pemberton-Heard holds a B.A. from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and is an alumna of Columbia University Graduate School of Business. She has served as a Regional Judge for Presidential Commission White House Fellowships; a Trustee of the Toy Industry of America Foundation; and on the Board of Governors of the Case Western School of Law. Pemberton-Heard has also served on the professional faculty of the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business, where she lectured on business law.