Shane Smith

Shane Smith is the founder and executive chairman of VICE, the global youth media brand. One of the industry’s most respected visionaries, Smith is also a critically acclaimed journalist, and the host and executive producer for the Emmy winning news series, VICE, on HBO.

Under Smith’s guidance, VICE, which initially launched in 1994 as a punk magazine, has expanded and diversified to become the world’s leading youth media company, operating an international network of digital, linear and mobile channels, a world-class production studio, an award-winning creative services agency, and a feature film division.

VICE’s award-winning video programming covers news, culture, music, technology, sports, fashion and more from a unique perspective tailored toward a young international audience often ignored by mainstream media. To syndicate VICE’s content globally, Smith established a network of distribution partnerships with leading platforms, including A+E Networks, Snapchat, HBO, 20th Century Fox, Times of India, Sky and others. VICE’s reach has since exploded, with its multiplatform content reaching hundreds of millions of viewers every month.

Smith has reported from the world’s most isolated and difficult places, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia and Greenland.

Smith has been awarded numerous media and journalism awards, including the Cannes Lions 2016 ‘Media Person of the Year’, the 2014 Knight Innovation Award, two Environmental Media Awards, the Frank Stanton Award for Excellence, and more. VICE has also won scores of awards for its groundbreaking content, including three Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, the PEN Center Award of Honor, and the Television Academy Honors for socially conscious programming, among dozens of others.

In 2016, Smith was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London.