Geraldine Laybourne (née Bond; born May 19, 1947)[1] is an American entrepreneur and former TV executive.
She worked at Nickelodeon from 1980 until 1996, when she became the president of Disney-ABC Cable Networks (including Disney Channel).
From 1969 to 1970, Laybourne worked at Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd, an architecture firm in Philadelphia.
[1][6] Laybourne and her team were responsible for creating and building the Nickelodeon brand, launching Nick at Nite and expanding the network by establishing it in other countries, developing theme parks and creating Nickelodeon magazine, movie, toy and publishing divisions.
[citation needed] On February 2, 2000 (a date which plays off the chemical compound of oxygen—O2/O2), the Oxygen Network premiered to 10 million subscribers.
At the end of Laybourne's tenure, Oxygen had 270,000 prime-time weekday viewers in 74 million homes.
Her daughter, Emmy Laybourne, is an author of a series of young adult novels called Monument 14 and is an actress who has appeared in Superstar and other films.
[11][12] Her son Sam is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer on shows such as Black-ish, Arrested Development, Cougar Town, The Michael J.