Bernard Bell is the chairman and CEO of Urban Media Solutions (UMS), a media consulting firm that coaches high-growth startups, corporations and government agencies on traditional media and digital strategy around the urban market. He was most recently the senior vice president in the Office of the President for TV One, a lifestyle and entertainment cable network. He joined the network in 2003 as the second employee and led the successful growth of the network from a $130 million investment to a $600 million valuation within 54 months. He started his career at TV One as senior vice president of sales and marketing. Prior to joining TV One, Bell held senior sales and marketing positions at Tribune Media Services in Chicago, ICTV an internet startup based in Silicon Valley, Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV) based in Knoxville and NYC and Discovery Channel based in Bethesda, MD. He started his sales career at IBM as an account executive in Winston-Salem, NC. Originally from Greensboro, NC, Bell holds both a BA and an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.