Pat Robertson
Founder of the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN)
M. G. "Pat" Robertson has achieved national and international recognition as a religious broadcaster, philanthropist, educator, religious leader, businessman and author. He is the founder and chairman of The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Inc. and founder of International Family Entertainment Inc., Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, American Center for Law and Justice, The Flying Hospital, Inc., and several other organizations and broadcast entities.
Founded in 1960, CBN was the first Christian television network established in the United States. Today, CBN is one of the world's largest television ministries and produces programming seen in 200 nations and heard in 70 languages including Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Chinese. CBN's flagship program, The 700 Club, which Robertson hosts, can be seen in 97 percent of television markets across the United States and is one of the longest running religious television shows that reaches an average of one million American viewers daily.
Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, founded by Robertson in 1978, is a non-profit relief and development organization with a mission statement "to demonstrate God's love by alleviating human need and suffering in the United States and around the world." OBI has touched the lives of more than 193.1 million people in 96 countries and all 50 U.S. states, distributing more than $1.2 billion in goods. To help break the cycle of suffering, OBI implements programs that focus on the primary goals of providing hunger relief, medical aid, disaster relief and community development that will make a significant, long-term impact on those in need.
Robertson was the founder and co-chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc. (IFE). Formed in 1990, IFE produced and distributed family entertainment and information programming worldwide. IFE's principal business was The Family Channel, a satellite delivered cable-television network with 63 million U.S. subscribers. IFE, a publicly held company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was sold in 1997 to Fox Kids Worldwide, Inc. for $1.9 billion. Disney acquired the Fox Family Channel in 2001 and named it ABC Family.
Located in Virginia Beach, Va., Regent University was founded in 1977 by Robertson, who serves as its president and chancellor. Regent is a fully accredited graduate university that offers degrees in business, communication & the arts, divinity, education, government, law, organizational leadership and psychology & counseling. In addition, Regent Undergrad offers bachelor degrees in animation, cinema-television, communication, english, global business, government, interdisciplinary studies, journalism, organizational leadership & management, psychology, religious studies and theatre. Regent University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees, and has enrollment of more than 5,000 students. In addition to the main campus in Virginia Beach, Regent offers programs online via their Worldwide Campus.
Robertson is founder and president of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a public interest law firm and education group that defends the First Amendment rights of people of faith. The law firm focuses on pro-family, pro-liberty and pro-life cases nationwide.