A broadcast journalist, media pioneer and digital communication leader, Willow Bay is the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where she has advanced student-centered, industry-engaged curricula and programs, increased access to new technology and data solutions, and expanded scholarship support for the next generation of media innovators.

The first female dean of USC Annenberg, Bay oversees nearly 300 faculty and staff, and nearly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students across the fields of communication, journalism, public relations and public diplomacy. 

Bay’s leadership is rooted in four core pillars that support the USC Annenberg’s mission: driving academic innovation in teaching and scholarship; expanding thought leadership and impact; strengthening partnerships across academe and industry; and increasing access and opportunity for the school community.

Since her installation in 2017, Bay has accelerated curricular innovation, including launching new leading-edge online master’s, experiential education, career development and professional learning programs. To create the nationʼs first multidisciplinary academic hub for sports at USC, Bay is working with the USC Marshall School of Business to advance the university’s sports curricula, professional development and research programs.

As she has focused on advancing and broadening the school’s research portfolio, research funding support at the school has nearly doubled. Endowment fundraising has also grown by nearly 300%, with diversified funding for faculty chairs and student scholarships. In 2017, Bay established the Student Success and Emergency Aid Funds, which have since benefited approximately 1,500 students.

Bay has increased USC Annenberg’s public engagement around critical issues such as media innovation, the role of communication technology in the public interest, digital media literacy, and sports and social change. She has attracted highly visible speakers to campus, including leaders in business, sports, communication, journalism, public policy, and climate.

Prior to her role as dean, Bay spent three years as director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism (2014–17), guiding the launch of the state-of-the-art media center in Wallis Annenberg Hall, introducing the school’s new Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree program and welcoming the first cohort of the school’s nine-month Master of Science in Journalism program.

Bay’s academic and industry engagement is focused on the intersection of media, technology and business. Building on research from her first book, Talking to Your Kids in Tough Times: How to Answer Your Child’s Questions about the World We Live In (Warner Books, 2003), she is the co-author of a series of global research reports on the impact of mobile technologies on teens and parents titled “The New Normal.”

Sports has also been an area of focus for Bay beginning with empowering athletes to tell their own stories on NBC’s “NBA Inside Stuff” and, most recently, helping to establish USC as the premier hub for the study and practice of sports. In 2024, Bay and the “NBA Inside Stuff” team received the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Transformative Media Award. Bay and her husband, Bob Iger, are controlling owners of the Angel City Football Club, the most valuable franchise in women’s sports.

Bay came to USC Annenberg from her post as senior editor and senior strategic advisor of The Huffington Post, where she managed editorial content and growth initiatives. Her prominent broadcast experience includes reporting and anchoring for ABC News’ Good Morning America/Sunday and serving as a correspondent for Good Morning America and World News Weekend. She was the first woman to co-anchor CNN’s flagship daily financial news program Moneyline. In addition, she was a special correspondent for Bloomberg TV and host of Women to Watch, a primetime program that profiled the next generation of women leaders. Across her career, Bay has interviewed a number of global influencers, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In 2015, The Los Angeles Press Club honored Bay with the Joseph M. Quinn Award for Lifetime Achievement. Recognizing female executives in the fields of entertainment and technology who have made a significant contribution to the industry, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group’s Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology was presented to Bay in 2019. The Saban Community Clinic’s Communicator Awards named Bay as their inaugural Communications Leader of the Year in 2024.

Bay currently serves as vice chair of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees as well as chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Los Angeles Advisory Committee.

Originally from New York, Bay graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in literature and received her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

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