Susan Martin Bunda, B.A. '86 | WMU Alumni Skip to main content

Susan Martin Bunda, B.A. '86

Susan Martin Bunda, B.A. '86

Susan Martin Bunda was appointed executive vice president of content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide in 2007 and is responsible for program creation and development and leads the network's continuing integration of television and Web.

As a communication student at WMU, Bunda produced the 11 p.m. newscast at WWMT, a CBS affiliate in Kalamazoo, Mich., and continued working there after earning her bachelor’s degree. She began her career at CNN in 1987 where she was the executive producer of the network's legal analysis show, Burden of Proof and of CNN and Company, a talk show featuring a panel of female experts debating current events. Bunda later assumed responsibility for all talk shows/guest bookings, as a senior vice president.

She was an executive producer with the CNN Special Event Unit, the network's series of prime-time specials that provided same day coverage of breaking news. That unit produced CNN's extensive coverage of such significant world events as Princess
Diana’s funeral in 1997, and Great Britain’s handover of Hong Kong to China in 1999.

Named to senior vice president for CNN/U.S. in 2001, Bunda led the network's Atlanta-based programming which was instrumental in the network's coverage of major events, including Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami.

Bunda is the recipient of the 2008 Multi Channel News Wonder Woman Class. She is also an executive member of Women in Cable and Television and a founding member of the CNN Diversity Council.