Bill Burke

Bill Burke founded The Optimism Institute in 2022 after an extensive media and sports career as an executive, writer, and producer. Bill served as CEO of The Weather Channel Companies after several years at Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting System, where he was the founding general manager of Turner Classic Movies before going on to become president of TBS Superstation. Additionally, for fifteen years he was the co-owner and chairman of the Portland Sea Dogs, the double-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

As a writer, Bill co-authored Ted Turner’s top-10 New York Times Best-Selling autobiography Call Me Ted and later co-wrote/produced/directed “Live Another Day,” an award winning feature-length documentary on the bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

Bill is a lifelong optimist (he has to be - he’s a Detroit Lions fan) and launched The Optimism Institute with a mission to inspire people with an optimistic, hopeful vision of the world and its future.

He is a graduate of Amherst College and received his MBA at Harvard Business School. Bill was also a 2022 Fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative.