Henry W. McGee
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Henry McGee joined the HBS faculty in 2013 after retiring as President of HBO Home Entertainment, the digital and DVD program distribution division of Home Box Office, the pioneering premium television company. A member of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, he has taught courses in both the MBA and Executive Education programs. McGee has coauthored numerous media industry case studies and in 2016 launched a new field study course, Hollywood: Distribution and Marketing Challenges in a Digital World. He also co-designed and teaches the courses Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship and Scaling Minority Businesses. He serves as faculty co-advisor for both the Entertainment and Media Club and the African American Student Union and is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Greenhill Award for service to the HBS community.
Henry McGee joined the HBS faculty in 2013 after retiring as President of HBO Home Entertainment, the digital and DVD program distribution division of Home Box Office, the pioneering premium television company. A member of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, he has taught courses in both the MBA and Executive Education programs. McGee has coauthored numerous media industry case studies and in 2016 launched a new field study course, Hollywood: Distribution and Marketing Challenges in a Digital World. He also co-designed and teaches the courses Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship and Scaling Minority Businesses. He serves as faculty co-advisor for both the Entertainment and Media Club and the African American Student Union and is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Greenhill Award for service to the HBS community.
Since 2015 McGee has served as a director of TEGNA (NYSE: TGNA), a broadcast and digital media company that owns the largest number of affiliates of the NBC television network. He is chair of the Governance, Sustainability, and Corporate Responsibility Committee of AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC), one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical services company and number eight on the Fortune 500 list of the biggest corporations in America. In 2018 the National Association of Corporate Directors named McGee to the Directorship 100, the organization’s annual recognition of the country’s most influential boardroom members.
McGee joined HBO immediately after graduating from HBS in 1979. During the course of his 34-year career with the company, he held posts in a wide range of areas including family programming, film acquisition and international coproduction. Named president of HBO Home Entertainment in 1995, McGee received numerous industry awards for his pioneering use of Internet-based marketing and early adoption of the high-definition format for the company’s DVD releases. Named one of the 50 most powerful African Americans in the entertainment business by Black Enterprise magazine, McGee oversaw the digital and DVD release of numerous blockbusters including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and Game of Thrones. McGee also served as a director of the Digital Entertainment Group, the trade association of entertainment and electronics manufacturers focused on fostering new technologies. In 2008 he was inducted into the Video Hall of Fame, the home entertainment industry’s most prestigious honor.
McGee has a strong interest in the governance of nonprofit organizations and has been especially involved in the arts. He has served as president of both the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation, the nation’s largest modern dance organization, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He has also been a board member of the Sundance Institute, The Public Theater, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the New 42nd Street, the organization overseeing the revitalization and management of seven historic theaters in Times Square. Currently he is a member of the executive committee of the Black Filmmaker Foundation and a director of the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC.
After graduating from Harvard College, magna cum laude, in 1974, McGee worked as a reporter for Newsweek magazine in its New York and Washington bureaus. He covered stories in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, education, and entertainment.
- Journal Articles
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- Shih, Willy C., and Henry McGee. "Hollywood on the Yellow Sea." The Atlantic 316, no. 5 (December 2015): 44–51. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Archie Jones, Henry McGee, and Terrance Rogers. "Field Course: Scaling Minority Businesses." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 823-052, September 2022. (Revised September 2022.) View Details
- Jones, Archie L., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Henry McGee. "Clara Wu Tsai and Brooklyn Loan Innovation." Harvard Business School Case 822-124, March 2022. (Revised January 2023.) View Details
- Luo, Hong, Henry McGee, and Carol Lin. "Universal During COVID: The Future of Theatrical Windows." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 722-420, January 2022. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
- McGee, Henry, Nien-hê Hsieh, and Christian Godwin. "Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 323-066, January 2023. View Details
- McGee, Henry, Mel Martin, and Amy Klopfenstein. "Southwick Social Ventures." Harvard Business School Case 323-011, August 2022. View Details
- Luo, Hong, Henry McGee, and Carol Lin. "Universal During COVID: The Future of Theatrical Windows." Harvard Business School Case 721-425, January 2021. View Details
- McGee, Henry, Nien-hê Hsieh, and Christian Godwin. "Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (A)." Harvard Business School Case 321-004, February 2021. View Details
- Deshpandé, Rohit, and Henry McGee. "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Art of the Entrepreneur (B)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 521-711, September 2021. View Details
- Deshpandé, Rohit, and Henry McGee. "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Art of the Entrepreneur." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 521-710, September 2021. View Details
- McGee, Henry, Rohit Deshpandé, and Sarah Gulick. "Jeffrey Deitch: Art Entrepreneur." Harvard Business School Case 320-042, March 2020. (Revised October 2020.) View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Sarah Mehta. "Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 320-021, November 2019. View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Aldo Sesia. "AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 320-031, September 2019. View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Aldo Sesia. "AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 319-041, September 2018. View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Aldo Sesia. "AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (A)." Harvard Business School Case 319-024, September 2018. (Revised April 2019.) View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Sarah Mehta. "Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency." Harvard Business School Case 319-002, August 2018. (Revised September 2019.) View Details
- McGee, Henry. "NBCUniversal Telemundo: Transforming Latino Television." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 318-073, April 2018. View Details
- McGee, Henry W., and Christine Snively. "Hulu: Redefining the Way People Experience TV." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 318-074, February 2018. View Details
- McGee, Henry W., and Christine Snively. "Hulu: Redefining the Way People Experience TV." Harvard Business School Case 318-002, September 2017. (Revised December 2017.) View Details
- McGee, Henry W., Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Christine Snively. "NBCUniversal Telemundo: Transforming Latino Television." Harvard Business School Case 318-018, September 2017. View Details
- Hsieh, Nien-hê, Henry McGee, and Sarah McAra. "Apple: Privacy vs. Safety? (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 317-021, October 2016. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Sarah McAra. "The Black List." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 317-087, February 2017. View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Sarah McAra. "The Black List." Harvard Business School Case 317-027, November 2016. (Revised May 2017.) View Details
- Gupta, Sunil, Henry McGee, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Comcast Corporation." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 516-048, October 2015. (Revised February 2016.) View Details
- McGee, Henry, and Willy Shih. "Wanda Studios Qingdao." Harvard Business School Case 616-005, September 2015. (Revised December 2016.) View Details
- Elberse, Anita, and Henry McGee. "Shonda Rhimes' ShondaLand." Harvard Business School Case 516-026, August 2015. (Revised June 2019.) View Details
- Gupta, Sunil, Henry McGee, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Margaret L. Rodriguez. "Comcast Corporation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 715-457, April 2015. (Revised June 2020.) View Details
- Sucher, Sandra J., and Henry McGee. "A Brief History of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Controversy." Harvard Business School Background Note 613-044, September 2012. (Revised August 2013.) View Details
- Additional Information
- Areas of Interest
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- channels of distribution
- corporate accountability
- electronic commerce
- moral leadership
- nonprofit governance
- business history
- corporate governance
- corporate values/value systems
- diversity
- marketing
- social enterprise
- strategy
- arts
- broadcasting
- distribution
- e-commerce industry
- entertainment
- health care
- journalism
- media
- motion pictures
- nonprofit industry
- television
- wholesale
- Africa
- Australia
- Canada
- Europe
- United States
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