Marva Smalls is Senior Strategic Advisor to the Office of the CEO. Her role includes partnering with Paramount’s co-CEOs to implement strategic initiatives that drive innovation and business results across the company’s vast global footprint. She steps into this new role after serving as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Inclusion at Paramount and Executive Vice President, Public Affairs.
Smalls has more than three decades of leadership experience in the public and private sectors. She previously served in dual roles as Global Head of Inclusion Strategy, Viacom, and EVP, Public Affairs and Chief of Staff, Nickelodeon. During this time, she developed best-in-class inclusion initiatives and advisory councils that inspired employee engagement and fostered a collaborative culture. She established Paramount’s Employee Resource Groups globally and expanded key partnerships in international markets. As Chief of Staff for Nickelodeon, Smalls also partnered with the network’s President to manage day-to-day operations and is widely acknowledged for her groundbreaking efforts to empower kids.
Before joining Viacom in 1993, Smalls held many leadership roles in the public sector, including serving as the first African American Chief of Staff for a white Southern Member of Congress and contributing to South Carolina Governor Richard Riley’s administration.
Smalls is a founding member of the Black Economic Alliance and serves on numerous boards, including the American Theatre Wing, the International African American Museum, the James Beard Foundation, the Heisman Trophy Trust, and Synovus Bank/South Carolina.
Smalls holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of South Carolina, where she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities. Additionally, she founded the Marva Smalls Endowment, which has awarded more than $3 million to programs for youth and families, as well as a $1 million endowment to the Ronald McNair Center to support aerospace students from underrepresented populations.
She resides in New York and South Carolina.