ViacomCBS VetNet VIP Meet & Greet Web Series Episode 3: Tom Ryan and Mike Pannacciulli

Welcome everybody to our third meet and greet session with our advisors. I'm here to introduce our leader, Chief Veteran Officer Rich Jones. Take it away.

Betty, I just want to thank you for your leadership to make it happen every day. You make it look easy, but we know that it's not. When we were at the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride this morning, I was mentioning, you know, the proof is in the pudding when you have so many people within the community that come up and say you're having a huge impact on our community, right? Which ultimately means we're changing lives, and that's what we're all about. What we've tried to do is be very multifaceted with our work within our veterans network, realizing that is to be a resource for our community. Part of this, you know, what we brought our leaders, you know, some of the most amazing, talented executives who have had their own path. It's always good to get to the high ground and get a sense of what's possible. Just teeing it up for the conversation, which again, we're so fortunate to have Tom Ryan. Tom, it's understating what Tom's role is at the company. It is the most important part of our business. We are a content company. It's the most challenging aspect of a transitioning business to streaming, right? We all know that that's where our industry is moving towards, and the person who's the battlefield commander, the President of ViacomCBS's Global Streaming, Tom Ryan. We're also very fortunate to have Mike Panatouli, who oversees our global content operations for streaming for ViacomCBS. Both Mike and Tom are no bigger supporters of our veterans, our veterans network. Both serve as advisors to our veterans network. Last fall, you know how important the Marine Corps birthday is, and when the Commandant came to us last year and said, you know, we'd love to be able to do something because normally we have the birthday celebration on the Intrepid, but last year obviously was not possible. With a few phone calls, literally Tom and his team were able to pull together and have distribution and have the Marine Corps 245th birthday be on Pluto TV. Again, we have many streaming platforms. Pluto TV is, I know you guys know, it is absolutely amazing, and we were able to provide through the Military Channel on Pluto to all Marines who had access, and the feedback was amazing. And somebody says, 'I got you covered.' Nobody does that better than Tom and Mike. So, as veterans in transition, you know, uncertain about what the future might bring, I'm sure hearing what you've gone through, steps in your career that have gotten you to where you are right now and give you the perspective to lead this global organization, I think that would be really fascinating to hear about.

As veterans or anyone who's in states of transition, we think like, I was using the compass analogy, like that you shoot an azimuth and you walk towards the objective. What I've heard from you saying is that you started off, and there's many, you know, adjustments along the way, and every one of those experiences gave you experiences and tools. And I think, you know, the thing that resonated with me was that when you initially said that failure, a lot of people, you know, the fear of failure, I think is something that is part of our human nature. But when you're not willing to be at least a risk taker, that can really be a dangerous habit for a career. When I spent a year at Walter Reed and then having to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life, the anxiety and fear that I had about looking into an uncertain future was terrifying. And just that guidance of like, hey, listen, one step at a time. From your perspective, like just maybe some insight into that.

And Tom, if I can ask, you know, one of the things that when you look at people who have been able to navigate through successful careers, did you have mentors, people that were your personal board of directors, people that you would vet things with that were able to give you guidance? I think that's so important.

No, Mike, obviously your career, right, very interesting path to where you are now. Maybe, you know, talk about your walk as Tom was describing, things that sort of forged you, and then things that challenged you. And then, you know, the insights around obviously your day job is one that's critical to our future as a company. You know, just give sort of a snapshot day in the life, and I think from that a lot of things can be teased out.

This is great. It's great to see everybody assembled here. My career path has been semi-linear but with a lot of zigzags along the way. I think I was infatuated with movies and TV, so I always kind of knew that somehow I would be close to that world or I was going to make sure that I was. I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go, so I did some PA work, worked on a lot of movies and commercials, and did a lot of the freelance. That taught me to be, you know, advocate for yourself. You're not guaranteed another job in the freelance space necessarily, and you have to hustle. I also learned working hard is something that you're going to be doing. You don't realize how much work goes into those 16-hour days and long nights, and those challenges and figuring those things out was important to me and building the base knowledge and education that stacks on each other like bricks. That led me to post-production, working those late nights and figuring out that this is interesting, but again, I'm still not where I want to be. I wanted to be back in New York. I wanted to be doing more. And I think that's important throughout, Rich, is just taking opportunities that may not 100% feel right because you may have some doubt: is this the right fit for me? Am I going to be good enough to do this? This is something I want to do, but there's enough there to kind of take that leap of faith. It was probably the first time I realized that there's opportunity through change. You have to be ready to take that chance and make that move. So when I saw an opportunity pop up on the ViacomCBS streaming side for this role that I'm presently in, just felt like the right time, the right fit, and it was an expansion of everything that I've ever learned. I was ready for that bigger step. And you know, back in September, as we look forward, looking out, Paramount+ is going to launch. We've got these international territories that we're going to launch. To think where it's gone now, and you know, again, largely taking chances when they, you know, I started cracking the door and, you know, gotta open that door. I encourage everybody to do that through their careers. Don't be afraid. It might not always work out. What Tom was saying, you never really know. You always look for success, but trust your gut, do your research, and you know, nine times out of ten it's gonna be the right move. And if nothing else, you're gonna learn a lot from that experience. Take those chances when they're offered to you.

I'm going to sum up some really top-line passion, right? You know, that early passion is important, right? So I think to have a sustainable career, something that's like the nuclear reaction that drives you, right? So your passion for the industry was, you know, I mean, it comes out loud and clear. Secondly, every place you've been, you've squeezed the juice out of every orange, right? There's, you know, you've taken advantage of every opportunity. And then the power of the connections, the people you've worked with, and that then led on to other opportunities, right? So connecting, you know, making the most of the relationships, you know, I think is a lesson that I'm listening from your career. Has multiple phases and they're not always going to be linear. But it's, you know, the first stage is usually learn, second stage is earn, third stage is return. The learning goes on forever. That's why he said it's not always linear. The earning is not just about the financial, which is important, but it's earning your trust, earning your keep, earning everything that makes you a valuable employee and person. And then the return, the return is this, right? And this is the great gift. And that, you know, you could tell people how fun this is or how rewarding it is, but until you actually do it yourself, you don't really see that. And that doesn't have to happen at the end of your career. The return can happen at various points when you're ready, when it's right. We all share a passion for the entertainment industry. And what do you see, you know, how this continues to evolve, this, and which may provide an opportunity for, you know, our interns and for us to think about, you know, like when Wayne Gretzky would say, don't go to where the puck is, but go to where the puck is going to be.

Thank you. I mean, it's tremendously inspirational, and as I said, we're so appreciative, realizing that time is our most precious and limited resource, and you've been so generous today and in all the instances that I mentioned. And we're so appreciative. It's been tremendously insightful. Mike, I want to thank you. Same, you know, ditto. And I just want to give a round of applause to our guests today for an amazing session. I found this to be really insightful. I think we come away with, we're always looking for tools for our toolbox, arrows for our quiver, so to speak, and I can say this has been tremendously helpful. We're so appreciative of your time today to be able to give us a sense of your experience and your walk. And to our veteran interns, I hope that you found this to be as engaging and interesting and helpful as we have. You're an inspiration to us, and so we really do appreciate everything that you've done for the country and thrilled that you're here at ViacomCBS.

Thank you. Thank you so much.