David Linde’s background spans production, global distribution and overseeing the complex but vital work of accelerating impact and narrative change in collaboration with films and television series, as well as building multiple companies from the ground up. He has served as the CEO of Participant, the chairman of Universal Pictures, co-founder and President of specialty film studio Focus Features, partner in the New York production company Good Machine and owner of Lava Bear Films, where he produced multi-Oscar® nominee Arrival.

During his tenure at Participant, the company’s productions included Oscar Best Picture winners Spotlight and Green Book; American Factory, Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature; and ROMA and A Fantastic Woman, Oscar winners for Best Foreign Language Film; as well as acclaimed, award-winning long-form content including Steve James’ docuseries America to Me and Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us.

Linde has long championed the voice of signature filmmakers, having worked on multiple films with Pedro Almodóvar, Sofia Coppola, Alfonso Cuarón, Todd Haynes, Ang Lee, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Tom McCarthy, among many others.

Linde currently serves on the Board of Directors of the British Academy of Motion Picture Film and Television Arts/North America, the American Film Institute’s Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors of Film Independent and the Advisory Council of Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.