Tom Halleen

Tom Halleen serves as the founding dean of Biola University’s Snyder School of Cinema & Media Arts. Since assuming the role in 2020, the Snyder School has become one of the nation’s top film schools according to Hollywood publications Variety, TheWrap, The Hollywood Reporter, and Filmmaker Magazine. As Biola’s fastest-growing school, it continues to expand its influence and reputation in the television, film, digital media, and game industries. The school recently opened a $75 million state-of-the-art studio facility spanning over 45,000 square feet. It’s one of the most technologically advanced media training facilities in the world.

Through his nearly 30 years as an entertainment industry executive, Halleen rose through the ranks to the top of the media industry. As executive vice president of programming strategy at AMC Networks, Halleen led a 43-member team across the linear and on-demand platforms for five of its national entertainment services including AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and WeTV. He served as a key team member in the transition of AMC into one of the most innovative and successful cable networks on television in part through the launch of groundbreaking and Emmy-winning series including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead, the highest-rated basic cable series in television history.

Halleen has experience in all divisions of programming national television networks including acquisitions, scheduling, development, production, operations, viewer services, research, legal, standards and practices, and promo/media planning.

Prior to joining AMC Networks, Halleen began his journey with the Family Channel (now known as Freeform), working his way from intern to senior vice president of primetime programming and development.

Throughout his career, Halleen led multiple national television networks through schedule and brand overhauls with record-breaking results. He negotiated for the acquisition of well over $1 billion in series, specials, and movies. He developed and supervised hundreds of hours of original series, movies, and specials across all genres, including Emmy-winning productions.