Kurt Tondorf is Senior Vice President, Development for Animal Planet and Science Channel. Tondorf oversees Animal Planet and Science Channel’s development slate and is responsible for bringing new series and specials to the networks while supervising the development of concepts to green light. Additionally, he identifies writers and talent necessary to develop compelling new characters and programming and set development strategy for both networks. 

Tondorf earlier served as Vice President of Development for Animal Planet where he oversaw the development strategy and slate for the network and developed numerous series, including Project Grizzly, The Guardians and Animal Nation with Anthony Anderson. Other series Tondorf developed during his tenure with the network including The Last Alaskans, Ice Cold Gold and Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet.

Before joining Animal Planet, Tondorf helmed development for Optomen Productions in New York and developed series for numerous cable networks, including History, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic Channel, Travel Channel and Food Network. As a producer for Optomen, Tondorf was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Science, Technology and Nature Programming for Evolve, a 13-part series he developed for History.

Previously, Tondorf was the sole U.S.-based development producer for London’s BAFTA-winning indie Windfall Films and helped develop its internationally acclaimed series My Brilliant Brain for National Geographic Channel, a 2008 BANFF Rockie award winner in the Popular Science & Technology Program category. Earlier he was a commissioning editor within WNET's Science unit and curated the series Secrets of the Dead, among other programming. 

Tondorf earned a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and is based in New York.

Speaking on: 30 Minutes With: Kurt Tondorf, Animal Planet & Science Channel