- Libby Geist has been married to her husband Kevin Wildes since 17th September 2011, after first crossing paths with him at ESPN, and now share two sons; Russell and Billy
- She started her career as a producer under director Dan Klores in 2004, and in 2008, she joined ESPN as an associate producer and rose to the position of VP and executive producer of ESPN Films and Original Content
- She left ESPN in 2020 and joined her former colleague Connor Schell as Vice President and head of documentaries in the newly established Words + Pictures in New York
Libby Geist is a documentary producer and wife of the decorated American TV producer Kevin Wildes. She previously worked with ESPN, raising to the position of Vice President and Executive Producer of Films and Original Content. After leaving ESPN in 2020, she joined her former ESPN colleague Connor Schell at his newly founded nonfiction banner Words + Pictures, where she now serves as its executive VP and head of documentaries.
Geist spent more than a decade at ESPN and produced several nonfiction projects such as “The Last Dance”, the “30 for 30” series, and “O.J.: Made in America”, which won an Oscar in 2017. She married Wildes in 2011 and shares two children together.
Here is everything to know about her.
Early Life And Educational Background of Libby Geist
She was born in 1980 in New York to Jody Lewis Geist and Bill Geist. She grew up in a family of TV personalities.
Her father Bill was a New York Times columnist, CBS News reporter, and author of the book “Little League Confidential: One Coach’s Completely Unauthorized Tale of Survival.” While her mother Jody Lewis was a social worker at Harlem Academy in New York.
Her older brother Willie Geist is a TV personality and journalist with NBC News and NBC Sports, and also an author. He co-authored a book with their father “Good Talk, Dad” in 2014.
The academy award-winning documentary producer had a solid educational background, although it is outside TV. She attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2004 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 2008.
She Weds Wildes In September 2011
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Geist has been married to Wildes for more than a decade now. She walks down the aisle with him on Saturday 17th September 2011 in New York.
The wedding took place at the Union Chapel in the Grove in Shelter island, where it was officiated by a Roman Catholic deacon, Douglas Hoffman.
Prior to the wedding, the pair first met while working in the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN sports networks unit. That was where they started treading the path that eventually led to their marriage.
Since the marriage, Geist and her husband share two handsome boys; Russell and Billy. The happy family of four currently resides in New York.
Also See-Who Is Kevin Wildes? A Look At His Accomplishments And Personal Life
Her Career Progression
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According to her Linkedin profile, Geist started working as a producer at the Shoot the Moon Productions under director Dan Klores in 2004, the same year she gained admission at the University of Wisconsin. She left the job the same year she graduated in 2008. Although, some reports revealed that she joined the company in 2003
Immediately after earning her degree, she joined ESPN as an Associate Producer II from October 2008 to April 2011, before becoming VP and executive producer of ESPN Films and Original Content.
During her 12 year stint with ESPN, she served in various capacities and has worked on more than 120 feature-length projects. Since 2016 she has been in charge of the network’s documentary department, as well as the development, production, distribution, branding, and strategy of all projects under ESPN Films. That’s not all, she also oversaw original series and studio shows on ESPN+, and ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service.
Some of these projects include; Michael Jordan’s docuseries The Last Dance, Lance Armstrong’s Lance, 30 for 30s, Long Gone Summer, Infinite Race, and podcast series Heavy Medals. Others are Detail with Kobe Bryant, and O.J.: Made in America, which won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2020, Geist left ESPN. She is currently working with Words + Pictures, a non-fiction studio in New York. It was founded by her former colleague at ESPN Connor Schell in February 2021. Schell left ESPN to pursue new adventures.
At the moment, she is spearheading the company’s docuseries and development and also serving as an executive VP.
Why Did She Leave ESPN?
Before her departure from ESPN, Geist gave two factors that forced her to make the decision; fatigue and family. She said ESPN’s production group rushed many of its documentaries to air as a result of the shutting down of sports activities as occasioned by the Covid-19 lockdown.
This rush has affected her mental strength and has pushed her to see the need to focus on family, especially her two sons, her mental health, and hit the reset button. But even at that she still hoped to continue in that line of work. Well, she did continue.
Meet Her Husband
Geist’s husband, Kevin Wildes is a TV producer. He worked with ESPN for over a decade and rose to VP of Content, NBA Studio Production. In this capacity, “NBA Countdown”, “The Jump” and “Detail by Kobe Bryant” for ESPN+ were launched, developed, and produced.
Prior, he was an executive producer at “GMA Day” and Relevant Sports Group. He hails from Groton, Cincinnati, and is an alumnus of La Salle University in Philadelphia.
His father Leland Morgan Wildes is an independent home contractor, and also a realtor with Heritage Properties. While his mother Joanne Scalon Wildes is a former grade one teacher at Dr. Charles G. Barnum School in Groton.
He is currently a producer on First Things First on FS1.
5 Fast Facts About Libby Geist
- Her grandmother Edi died in her sleep on the evening of the same day Geist welcomed her second son Billy in 2014.
- Geist won a George Foster Peabody Award in 2008 for “Black Magic”, a documentary that sheds light on basketball programs at black colleges and universities.
- She also won another Peabody for “30 for 30”, a docuseries that commemorated the anniversary of the founding of ESPN.
- The former ESPN VP and executive producer was born into a family of TV and journalism personalities, with the exception of her mother who was a social worker.
- She started working in PR before she landed a job with Dan Klores who founded ‘Shoot the Moon Productions.”
