Samuel DiPiazza


Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. is an American business executive who presently serves as the chairman of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Early life and education

He received dual degrees in accounting and economics from the University of Alabama where he became a member of Theta Chi fraternity. He then went on to get his Master of Accountancy from the University of Houston. He is a licensed CPA.

Career

DiPiazza joined Coopers & Lybrand in 1973 and was admitted to partnership in 1979. He held a series of senior leadership roles within the firm, including Regional Managing Partner for the Midwest Region and Regional Managing Partner for the New York Metro Region. Following the 1998 merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, DiPiazza served as Americas Leader for Tax and Legal Services and was elected Chairman and Senior Partner of the U.S. firm in 2000.
In 2002, DiPiazza was appointed Global Chief Executive Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited. During his tenure, PwC expanded its global operations and reported significant growth in its financial services, capital markets, and advisory practices as banking, asset management, and structured finance activity increased worldwide.
DiPiazza served as Global CEO through the build-up to and onset of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. During this period, PwC acted as auditor to numerous major financial institutions, several of which later required government support, emergency mergers, or entered bankruptcy. In the aftermath of the crisis, PwC and other Big Four accounting firms faced scrutiny and criticism from regulators, lawmakers, and commentators regarding audit quality, conflicts of interest, and the role of the profession in the financial system.
As a private partnership, PwC does not publicly disclose individual executive compensation. However, contemporaneous reporting placed compensation for global Big Four chief executives in the multi-million-dollar range annually. DiPiazza retired from PwC in 2009.
Following his retirement from PwC in 2009, DiPiazza joined Citigroup, where he served as Vice Chairman of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank from 2011 to 2014. In this role, he advised senior leadership on strategy, risk management, and client relationships within Citi’s investment banking and capital markets businesses.
After leaving Citigroup, DiPiazza took on a number of board and governance roles at large public companies and nonprofit institutions, including AT&T, ProAssurance, Regions Financial Corporation, and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Boards and memberships

DiPiazza has served on a number of corporate and nonprofit boards and committees throughout his career. He has been a board member and chairman at several major organizations.