Top Women in Television: Executive Producers

In our continuing series of Top Women in Television Behind the Camera, this week’s salute is for the Top Women Executive Producers:

Jennifer Gwartz and Danielle Stokdyk (Cupid) – Jennifer and Danielle worked with Rob Thomas on his creation Veronica Mars then moved on to Big Shots for its short-run on ABC before serving as Executive Producers for Rob Thomas’ reimagined version of Cupid that aired briefly last season.

Krista Vernoff (Grey’s Anatomy) – Krista played a role in Charmed and Wonderfalls before taking on an Executive Producer position with Grey’s Anatomy.

Kathleen McGhee-Anderson (Lincoln Heights) – For the past two years, Kathleen has been the driving force behind the ABC Family Channel series Lincoln Heights, but before her time with this show, she worked as a writer in early shows like Benson, Webster, Gimme a Break and Amen. She later moved o to write for Touched By An Angel, South Central and the short-lived series 413 Hope Street. Before Lincoln Heights, she served as writer and consulting producer on Soul Food and was consulting producer on Any Day Now.

Kelly Souders (Smallville) – Kelly has worked on Smallville since its beginning, making her way up from writer to Executive Producer over the course of the past seven years.

Martha Williamson (Touched By Angel) – Working as a writer on The Facts of Life and Raising Miranda prepared Martha to be the Executive Producer of the fan-favorite Touched By Angel as well as the creator and executive producer of its spin off series Promised Land.

Marti Noxon (Private Practice) – Any Buffy, the Vampire Slayer fan worth their salt will recognize Marti Noxon’s name as one of the talented staff on this ground-breaking series. Since that time Marti has made a name for herself as part of Still Life, Point Pleasant, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. She has also worked as a consulting producer on Angel, Prison Break and Mad Men.

Betsy Beers (Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice) – The bulk of Betsy’s work has been as Executive Producer on both Shonda Rhimes’ series Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice.

Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl) – Stephanie started out as a producer on Fastlane then became the Executive Producer of the short-lived WB series The Mountain. She later worked as writer and consulting producer on The O.C., then moved into the position of Executive Producer on Gossip Girl.

Jane Epsenson (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Warehouse 13) – Following Marti Noxon along the same path at Buffy, the Vampire Slayer was Jane Espenson, who was involved in the writing and producing of the Peabody Award winning Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica as well as the two-hour movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. Her work will also be featured in the new Syfy series Caprica when it debuts in 2010. She is also the Co-Executive Producer and co-creator of the Syfy series Warehouse 13. She also worked on Dollhouse, Tru Calling, The Inside and Gilmore Girls.

Ann Donohue and Carol Mendelsohn (CSI franchise) – Ann started out as a supervising producer on Picket Fences and Murder One before becoming an Executive Producer for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami. Prior to work on these same CSI franchise series, Carol as co-executive producer on the original Melrose Place and consulting producer on Providence.

Julie Gardner (Torchwood and Doctor Who) – Julie has played a key role in the world of Doctor Who since its return to UK (and American) television screens and Torchwood since nearly its inception. Prior to these two series, Julie was involved in the UK series Casanova, the mini-episodes called Tardisodes that were companion pieces to the Doctor Who TV series (the 2nd season), New Street Law and Ashes to Ashes.

Kim Moses (Ghost Whisperer) – Kim worked as an executive producer on Profiler before taking on a key role as Executive Producer on Ghost Whisperer along with her production partner Ian Sander.

Again, this list is just a representation of the incredible women who work as executive producers in television. The next installment of this series will appear next Monday.