# Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr.
> Chairman of the Board at warner bros discovery
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/samuel-di-piazza/
- Also known as: Sam Di Piazza, Samuel DiPiazza, Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., Samuel Di Piazza
## Summary
Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr. is the independent board chairman of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD), appointed at the April 2022 close of the WarnerMedia–Discovery merger. Before WBD, he spent 36 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, serving as PwC's global CEO from 2002 to 2009, then as a Citigroup vice chairman and an AT&T board director — the AT&T tenure placing him on both sides of the WarnerMedia transaction.

## Profile facts

- Current title: Chairman of the Board
- Current company: warner bros discovery (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/warner-bros-discovery/)


## Career trajectory

- 1973-01-01 — Joined Coopers & Lybrand (later PricewaterhouseCoopers) at pricewaterhousecoopers. Beginning of a 36-year career at the firm; entered as a tax practitioner.
- 2000-01-01 — Chairman and Senior Partner, PwC U.S. at pricewaterhousecoopers. Elected to lead the U.S. firm following the 1998 Coopers & Lybrand–Price Waterhouse merger.
- 2002-01-01 — Global Chief Executive Officer, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited at pricewaterhousecoopers. Led PwC's global network through 2009.
- 2011-05-23 — Vice Chairman, Global Corporate and Investment Bank (Institutional Clients Group) at citigroup. Joined Citi's Senior Strategic Advisory Group; departed in 2014.
- 2015-07-30 — Director, AT&T Inc. (Audit Committee) at att. Served on AT&T's board through the WarnerMedia–Discovery transaction close in April 2022.
- 2016-11-08 — Director, Regions Financial Corporation at regions-financial. Appointed to the Regions Financial board in November 2016.
- 2022-04-08 — Independent Chairman of the Board, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. at warner-bros-discovery. Appointed chair at the close of the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery, Inc.; one of seven directors named by AT&T to the 13-member combined board.


## Media appearances

- 2025-12-17 — interview: Warner Bros. Discovery Board Chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. Speaks with CNBC's David Faber on 'Squawk Box', CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/17/cnbc-exclusive-transcript-warner-bros-discovery-board-chair-samuel-di-piazza-jr-speaks-with-cnbcs-david-faber-on-squawk-box-today.html)

_This page uses only public-professional information (board roles, official corporate bios, public statements, and on-the-record media appearances)._

## Key facts

- Independent Board Chair of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.; appointed at the close of the WarnerMedia–Discovery transaction on April 8, 2022, with his initial term running through the 2026 annual stockholders meeting. — Warner Bros. Discovery — Leadership: https://www.wbd.com/leadership/samuel-di-piazza-jr
- Spent 36 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (originally Coopers & Lybrand), serving as global chief executive officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited from 2002 until his retirement in 2009. — Warner Bros. Discovery — Leadership: https://www.wbd.com/leadership/samuel-di-piazza-jr
- Joined Citigroup on May 23, 2011 as Vice Chairman in the Institutional Clients Group and a member of its Senior Strategic Advisory Group, focused on global client relationships. — Citigroup press release: https://www.citigroup.com/global/news/press-release/2011/samuel-di-piaa-to-join-citi-as-vice-chairman-within-institutional-clients-group
- Joined AT&T's board of directors on July 30, 2015 and served on the Audit Committee, departing the AT&T board upon close of the WarnerMedia spinoff in April 2022. — AT&T press release: https://about.att.com/story/piazza_joins_att_board_of_directors.html
- Holds dual undergraduate degrees in accounting and economics from the University of Alabama and a Master of Accountancy from the University of Houston; inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. — Alabama Business Hall of Fame: https://abhof.culverhouse.ua.edu/member/samuel-di-piazza/


## Related

- warner bros discovery (board chair) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/warner-bros-discovery/
- david zaslav (WBD CEO; Di Piazza chairs the board Zaslav reports to) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-zaslav/


## External coverage

- Warner Bros. Discovery: Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. — Board Chair (https://www.wbd.com/leadership/samuel-di-piazza-jr)
- 2022-03-15 — Variety: AT&T Names Samuel Di Piazza Chairman of Warner Bros. Discovery Board (https://variety.com/2022/biz/news/samuel-dipiazza-chairman-warner-bros-discovery-1235205850/)
- 2015-07-30 — AT&T: Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. Joins AT&T Board of Directors (https://about.att.com/story/piazza_joins_att_board_of_directors.html)
- 2011-05-23 — Citigroup: Samuel Di Piazza to Join Citi as Vice Chairman within Institutional Clients Group (https://www.citigroup.com/global/news/press-release/2011/samuel-di-piaa-to-join-citi-as-vice-chairman-within-institutional-clients-group)
- 2016-11-08 — Business Wire: Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr. and James T. Prokopanko Appointed to the Regions Financial Board of Directors (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161108005223/en/Samuel-A.-Di-Piazza-Jr.-and-James-T.-Prokopanko-Appointed-to-the-Regions-Financial-Board-of-Directors)
- National Association of Corporate Directors: Sam Di Piazza — Speaker Bio (https://www.nacdonline.org/speaker-bios/sam-di-piazza/)
- University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Business: Samuel Di Piazza — Alabama Business Hall of Fame (https://abhof.culverhouse.ua.edu/member/samuel-di-piazza/)
- 2025-12-17 — CNBC: CNBC Exclusive Transcript: WBD Board Chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. on 'Squawk Box' (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/17/cnbc-exclusive-transcript-warner-bros-discovery-board-chair-samuel-di-piazza-jr-speaks-with-cnbcs-david-faber-on-squawk-box-today.html)

## Profile
Di Piazza is one of the few board chairs in U.S. media whose authority predates the company he now chairs: he sat on AT&T's board through the long arc of the Time Warner acquisition, the WarnerMedia integration, and the eventual decision to spin the asset back out — then stepped across the deal table to chair the merged entity at close. That continuity is the reason his name keeps surfacing as Warner Bros. Discovery navigates the Paramount Skydance acquisition: the chair who oversaw the unwinding of the AT&T era is also the one signing off on what comes next.

His résumé sits unusually far outside the media-operator template that dominates most studio boards. Three decades-plus at PricewaterhouseCoopers, six of them as global CEO, plus a Citigroup vice chairmanship — the profile is audit, governance, and global capital, not programming or distribution. For a board navigating a contested sale process, that's the point.

## Tags

- executive
- board-chair
- corporate-governance
- warner-bros-discovery
- public-company-boards

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