Johnita P. Due

Johnita P. Due is Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer for WarnerMedia News and Sports, the parent company of CNN, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report and WarnerMedia Studios. Due, who is based in Atlanta and joined CNN as a media lawyer in 2003, was appointed to the newly created role in 2019.

Previously, Due served as vice president and assistant general counsel of CNN, joining CNN in 2003. Due served as CNN’s chief diversity advisor for almost a decade. She recently completed her tenure as co-chair of Black Professionals@Turner.

As vice president and assistant general counsel, Due provided strategic guidance on media law issues relating to content production and distribution on television and digital platforms. Additionally, Due managed CNN’s multinational rights and clearances department.

As co-chair of the business resource group (BRG) Black Professionals@Turner, Due helped shape the organization’s mission as “Defining Moments: Building Resilience, Driving Excellence and Moving Forward During Times of Change.” Under her leadership, the group focused on putting the “B” back into the BRG.

Prior to that, from 2005-2013, Due served as CNN’s chief diversity advisor. She chaired CNN’s award-winning Diversity Council and provided guidance to CNN management on content, marketplace, workforce and workplace initiatives to advance CNN’s diversity mission of growing its business by reflecting diverse audiences and perspectives in its programming and supporting an inclusive culture for its employees.

Due herself has been individually recognized for her diversity and inclusion achievements. She was named to Cablefax’s Diversity List for 2019, named one of the “Top Black Voices in Network News” by Ebony magazine in 2007. In 2013, Due was named one of Rolling Out magazine’s “Top 25 Women of Atlanta.”

Due serves as a board member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights where she recently led the search for its new CEO at the request of board chair The Honorable Shirley Franklin. She is also on the board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and is president of the board of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta.

Prior to joining CNN, Due was associate general counsel for The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., where she practiced litigation, intellectual property, and media law.

Due earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Sussex in England by studying race relations and organizational culture under a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship.