JESSICA HERRERA-FLANIGAN

TITLE: Executive Vice President of Government and Corporate Affairs

COMPANY: Univision Communications

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: As senior counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, she led the cybercrime investigation team and worked on cases such as the Melissa and Love Bug viruses; staff director and general counsel, Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives; partner, Monument Policy Group.

QUOTABLE: “To be a good leader, you have to be adaptive, but not abandon your beliefs, your personality and identity — and be nice to everybody.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

When Jessica Herrera-Flanigan left her hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, to go to college, she dreamed of becoming a poet and a journalist. Despite her love of journalism and literature, her career goals evolved once she set foot at Yale University.

“I went to college to be a writer and I fell into law,” Herrera-Flanigan said. “I wanted to expand my horizons. I thought: How many different pieces can I put together in a world that keeps evolving?”

She never imagined where she would end up — as the head of the Washington, D.C., office of Spanish-language programmer and broadcaster Univision Communications — and the steps she’d take along the way. At Univision, her oversight includes government relations and public-policy functions, as well as the company’s community empowerment, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) roles.

But as the driven person she is, the Yale and Harvard Law graduate knew she would achieve whatever she set her mind to.

“In each of the different things that I’ve done, I’ve always been really interested on building upon an opportunity,” she said. “It’s like connecting the lines between the dots in a maze. The biggest challenge is learning new aspects of each job.”

INTERESTS CONVERGE

The key pieces in her career maze are media, technology, law and public policy, and throughout the years, she’s managed to converge all of her interests.

“Media is what drove me … and I was fascinated with technology,” Herrera-Flanigan recalled. “When I came out of law school and came to D.C., I practiced communications until I was representing broadcasters. I also did intellectual property work and then focused on the convergence of the Internet. That’s when an opportunity came my way to join the Justice Department.”

Herrera-Flanigan emphasizes the point about opportunities — the ones we make for ourselves and the ones that come our way.

She was an associate at Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C., when she got the opportunity to work as senior counsel for the Department of Justice dealing with cybercrimes, online piracy, security and intellectual-property issues. On day 1, she was forced to deal with a major crisis: the Melissa virus.

“At that time, the office only had seven to eight attorneys and they came to me for help,” she recalled. “That became my first case at the Justice Department.”

The Melissa virus devastated government and private-sector networks, causing more than $80 million in damage to U.S. businesses.

“That shifted my career. I was focusing more on technology and cyber cases. I also became involved in looking for ways to engage businesses and encourage kids to use new technology. Then 9/11 happened and I worked in the online investigative part.”

Her next opportunity was in Congress, as staff director and general counsel for the Committee on Homeland Security. She worked with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) on cybersecurity, privacy, civil rights and liberties and emerging technologies.

“She’s really an exceptional leader,” Lofgren said. “Her skill was such that she provided support not only for me, but also for the chairman of the committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry (RTexas), and achieved something very rare in the House: we actually had unanimous votes on issues and put out bipartisan reports on cybersecurity and other issues.”

Herrera-Flanigan has built a solid reputation as a hard-working professional, whose keen intellect, political acumen and conciliatory approach to tackling difficult and controversial issues are widely respected. “She’s super-smart, well-spoken, exceptionally well educated, politically astute and quite personable, which makes her easy to work with,” Lofgren said.

Those qualities attracted yet another opportunity, one that let her return to the private sector while keeping her D.C. ties. “Jess was being pursued by about everybody in town so we were lucky to get her,” said Stewart Verdery, who recruited her to join his government affairs and consulting firm, Monument Policy Group.

“Jess was the driving force creating the Reform Government Surveillance coalition of 10 or so major technology companies who pursued reforms to our surveillance laws and practices after the disclosures by Edward Snowden. Finding consensus between competitors with wildly different business models and then finding common ground with Congressional players and the law enforcement community to enact the USA Freedom Act in 2015, along with other reforms, was a signature achievement.”

After seven years in strategic consulting and advocacy work, Univision knocked on her door with an opportunity to return to her first passion, media.

Since she joined the Spanish-language media company in 2015, she has focused on building relationships with thought leaders and policy makers in D.C., while strengthening Univision’s community-engagement initiatives, corporate social responsibility and philanthropic work.

She also leads the company’s “Contigo” empowerment platform, which aims to create educational and career opportunities for Latinos through multiple media and technology initiatives.

ALWAYS ON THE GO

Herrera-Flanigan may be a big shot in D.C., but she has made her family a clear priority. A hands-on mother, she coaches her 6-year-old son’s little league team and will do the same for her 4-year-old daughter’s T-ball team in the spring, although she’s trying to convince her husband to help out.

“I’ve always been someone to overextend myself. I don’t sleep a lot. I’m always on the go,” she said. “In addition to balancing work life generally, it’s a challenge to balance all the other activities, prioritize and make it all work.”

“In my career I’ve always picked jobs that were interesting to me. When I went to Justice Department, it was because it was the cutting edge,” Herrera-Flanigan said. “It’s the startup mentality. When I went to the Hill, it was the startup of a new committee. Then, I left the Hill to start a new business. Coming to Univision, it’s the startup of building out this new capacity. That’s what intrigues me: it’s the building piece of things.”

“The decisions I made were great,” she added. “They gave me the experience and happiness in what I was doing. I would encourage people to follow what their passion is and not be afraid to take chances.”

SANDRA STERN

TITLE: President, Lionsgate Television Group

COMPANY: Lionsgate Entertainment

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: As part of senior management team for past 15 years, led efforts to triple Lionsgate’s TV slate, now comprising 90 shows on 40 networks. As head of business affairs at New World Entertainment, put together the first-ever international co-production for a U.S. broadcast network. Formerly head of business affairs for the Columbia TriStar Television Group; and founding COO of the Artists Television Group.

QUOTE: “I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to tell a story, and to get that story in front of a new audience.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

There was a moment, early in her trailblazing career, when a visitor came to Sandra Stern’s office seeking information from the young lawyer.

When the man saw her younger, male assistant, the visitor, confused, introduced himself, then turned to Stern — and asked her to get them coffee.

The veteran Hollywood dealmaker laughs now at the slight — as she did back then — and turns on a confident smile and easy voice that has fueled her steady rise through sometimes prickly negotiations in Hollywood as president of the Lionsgate Television Group.

“I was fortunate enough to be raised by two parents who told me I could do anything I wanted to do,” said the Brooklyn, N.Y.- born Stern, the daughter of a civil servant and a bookkeeper, and the first woman in her family to get a college degree.

Fresh back from the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. (she brought her niece’s daughter), today Stern is at the white hot center of deal-making for one of the fastest growing entertainment companies in the United States: Lionsgate, a filmed entertainment powerhouse consistently breaking revenue records.

DEALS UPON DEALS

Lionsgate recently acquired Starz for $4.4 billion, and stakeholder John Malone called Lionsgate “the gravitational center of the consolidation of free radicals,” or small, independent content companies.

Stern has been a key player on the senior management team for the past 15 years, working alongside CEO Jon Feltheimer and TV Group chairman Kevin Beggs, instrumental in tripling the size of Lionsgate’s television slate, which includes 90 series on more than 40 U.S. networks. In particular, Stern is responsible for uniquely constructed international TV and streaming platform deals.

“I have worked with Sandra for over 30 years, and I’m proud to say that she is our Wonder Woman,” Feltheimer said. “She’s a game-changer, an innovator and a skilled negotiator who understands how to create win/win scenarios for Lionsgate and our partners.”

Stern led negotiations on Lionsgate’s most iconic series, including Mad Men (AMC), Weeds (Showtime), Orange is the New Black (Netflix), The Royals (E!), Casual (Hulu), Greenleaf (OWN) and Nashville (CMT, Hulu).

She also pioneered the deal structure for many of Lionsgate’s prized projects, including Step Up, the first original series for YouTube Red.

Her stature in the TV business is based on her ability to thrive in a period of disruption, and concoct distribution deals that work for all parties. “Every day is different and every deal is different,” she observed. “And what worked for Mad Men when we put it on AMC doesn’t necessarily work for Feed the Beast on AMC. Every deal is different. The pitch for Orange Is the New Black on Netflix is different than what we made for Dear White People on Netflix.”

“She is a force,” said Eric Tannenbaum at production company The Tannenbaum Co., who has known and worked with Stern for more than 15 years, first at Columbia TriStar and later at Artists Television Group. “My favorite thing about her is that she always figures out a way to make things work. It’s never ‘No.’ It’s, ‘How do we do it? Let’s figure it out.’ ”

“I like to collaborate,” Stern said. “I like to think that one plus one comes out to more than two.”

In negotiations with big studios and producers and networks, “she always has the philosophy ‘everybody should win,’ ” Tannenbaum said. “No one side should just take everything off the table. Make it work for everybody.”

Stern said she feels at home at an entertainment giant with a studio and distribution and pay channels, largely because of the philosophy of Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer. “Jon is a very unique executive,” said Stern. “He creates a culture where he believes you can be better than you believe you can be. And it’s really a culture of empowerment.”

With Feltheimer, Stern learned to take measured risk, based largely on her confidence. Together at a firm called New World Entertainment, they were having an issue trying to finance a TV series based on Zorro for a small cable network in the U.S. After many failed attempts, Stern got a bright idea: license the series to a production company in France that she knew.

Feltheimer put her on a plane to France. “I came home a week later with a check for $2.8 million,” she said. The money made it possible to finance the series, which was ultimately shot in Spain.

DON’T WORRY, BE FEARLESS

It was a very influential moment in her career. “It taught me to be fearless,” Stern said. “It caused me not to worry so much about what I don’t know — and focus on what I think I can do.” She never forgot the thrill of that victory, and long ago made a quiet promise to herself to help build that confidence in other young women coming up in the ranks.

The deal taught young Stern another thing about business — and the world of business. “The world is an international marketplace. Not a pin on a map. It was really a valuable lesson to not be so egocentric — and ethnocentric.”

Stern always wanted to be a writer; she loves the art of storytelling. “I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to tell a story,” said the former comparative literature major. “And to get that story in front of a new audience.”

A graduate of UCLA Law School, Stern began her career in the Columbia Pictures Television legal department. As head of business affairs and international development at New World Entertainment, she put together the first-ever international co-production for a U.S. broadcast network. She led business affairs for the Columbia TriStar Television Group before leaving to become founding COO of the ‘Artists Television Group. She joined Lionsgate in 2003.

Stern has directed much of her spare time on her passions: film, law and mentoring. She is a founding member of UCLA Law School’s Women’s LEAD program and serves on the boards of the UCLA School of Law Ziffren Center, the Saban Clinic, Women in Film and the Center Theatre Group. She is also prominent in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, which recently honored her with its Excellence in Mentoring Award.

LISA WILLIAMS-FAUNTROY

TITLE: Senior Vice President for Business and Legal Affairs

COMPANY: Discovery Communications

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Jointly lead deal-making and legal production team for Discovery Channel’s Harley and the Davidsons; led deal-making and acquisition for Discovery’s global documentary Racing Extinction; served as key business and legal affairs executive on corporate joint-venture deals involving Hasbro, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and Travel Channel.

QUOTABLE: “A strong dedication to your values along with a commitment and belief in your personal and professional life goes a long way toward establishing yourself as a woman that can be recognized and appreciated.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Lisa Williams-Fauntroy has dutifully served as Discovery Communications’s legal warrior for nearly 20 years. Though she currently manages business and legal affairs matters for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel, Williams-Fauntroy during her career has worked behind the scenes for nearly every Discovery-owned network, negotiating complex deals relating to defamation, publicity, privacy and copyright issues.

In her formative years, though, Williams-Fauntroy wanted to be in front of the camera, the 2017 Wonder Women honoree said.

“I wanted to be a broadcast journalist,” she said. “I loved to write and I loved to talk ... my parents would cosign on that. I was news editor of my high school newspaper; I enjoyed photography; I was a news junkie.”

Growing up in Washington, D.C., with two brothers, Williams-Fauntroy said her parents — both professors at Howard University — were her biggest inspirations. Also serving as a role model to Williams-Fauntroy in the early 1980s was a then up-and-coming talk show host named Oprah Winfrey.

COMMUNICATIONS LAW BECKONED

“She was on the air in Baltimore when I grew up, so I feel like I had a chance to see her before she moved to Chicago and before she became as grand as she is,” she said. “For a young black girl, to see her on TV then was incredibly inspiring and encouraging.”

Smitten by the journalism bug, Williams-Fauntroy attended Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School, majoring in broadcast journalism. But her studies would soon lead her to another calling.

“I loved my communications law class as a sophomore at Syracuse,” she fondly recalls. “Other people thought it was weird, but I geeked out over it and I decided to go to law school.”

Williams-Fauntroy would earn a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1994 before landing a job at the D.C. communications and entertainment law firm Roberts & Eckard (now Davis Wright Tremaine LLP).

“It was a great first start for me and I was very hand-son,” she said. “It wasn’t a big, shiny-floor corporate firm. It was more of a small, boutique firm where I got a lot of great experience.”

After two and a half years at the firm, she would take that experience to the legal department at Discovery Channel, then an emerging network.

“I think one of the benefits that I had was that there weren’t a lot of entertainment law firms in D.C., but my small firm had an entertainment law practice,” she said.

Williams-Fauntroy started at Discovery in 1997 as one of the most junior members of the legal department. It didn’t take her long to climb up the network’s corporate ladder. Marc Grab-off, Discovery Communications’s president of Global Business & Legal Affairs, PMD and Studios — to whom Williams-Fauntroy reports — called her a role model for people coming up within the organization and a future industry leader.

“Lisa is clearly the wonder woman of Discovery Channel as far as the business and legal affairs group is concerned,” Graboff said. “She’s a creative deal-maker — when she has deals in front of her that have difficulty being made, she comes up with creative solutions to get it done. That’s a skillset that not everyone has.”

Added Williams-Fauntroy: “I had the opportunity to grow within Discovery. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to grow and evolve with the business.”

She attributed much of her success to great mentors such as former Roberts & Eckard partner Linda Eckard, former Discovery executive Doug Coblens, and former BET executive Maurita Coley, all of whom nurtured her through positive career moments, as well as difficult times.

Williams-Fauntroy is now a very active mentor herself, becoming a leader in Discovery’s MentorNet, a structured program that allows employees to apply for an in-house company mentor.

“I think mentoring for me as a beneficiary and mentoring for me as someone who can mentor others is invaluable and critical for so many purposes and cannot be underestimated,” she said.

She also serves as co-chair and executive sponsor for Discovery’s Black Cultural Alliance, comprised of more than 80 employees within the company. Along with mentoring up-and-coming young executives, Williams-Fauntroy said the BCA over the years has developed events and projects within Discovery that “recognize the importance of diversity in our content and in our employee base.”

ON BOARD AT NAMIC

She’s also mentoring industry executives through the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications and currently sits on the diversity organization’s board.

Despite her busy schedule, Williams-Fauntroy makes sure to spend quality time with her husband Michael and her 9-year-old twins, Brett and Logan. Every so often, she finds time to indulge in her guilty pleasures of photography and watching music videos.

“I have a robust life,” she said “It’s like a pie of pizza with lots of slices and you want to give 100% to all of those slices.”

Her ability to effectively balance her work and home life has impressed many executives around her, including Michelle Rice, NAMIC board of directors chair and executive VP of content distribution and marketing for TV One. “I truly admire how effortlessly she seems to keep all the balls in the air,” Rice said. “This is no easy task for Lisa, who manages a busy East Coast-West Coast travel schedule, a demanding career, a young family and serves on multiple committees on the NAMIC board.”

Despite her lengthy and impressive list of accomplishments, Williams-Fauntroy said she hasn’t quite given up on her on-air aspirations.

“I was able to marry the areas of law and media,” she said. “The only thing I need to do now is to have my own TV show and I’d be happy.”

SANDRA DEWEY

TITLE: President, TNT and TBS Productions and Business Affairs, Head of Studio T

COMPANY: Turner

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Early in her career, Dewey was an associate at the law firm Greenberg Glusker. She joined Turner in 1994. Prior to her last promotion in 2015, she was executive vice president, head of business affairs for Turner Entertainment Networks and Cartoon Network Originals.

QUOTABLE: “I have gone at my job, starting from when I was a junior person until now, in a way that is without artifice — in a way that doesn’t involve a lot of posturing, and is direct and truthful.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Sandra Dewey makes no bones about her “most pressing” personal and professional challenge right now.

“I’m absolutely determined to make every effort to help break through the obstacles that still prevent women from moving forward in our business in the way they should,” said Dewey, who is president of TNT and TBS productions and business affairs, as well as head of Turner’s original programming unit, Studio T.

“I’m really motivated to be an agent of force and change. That’s at the top of my agenda,” she added.

It’s an agenda with a whole lot of other responsibilities and challenges, not the least of which is raising two teenage girls as a single parent. One of her biggest at Turner is preparing TBS and TNT for the future, alongside Kevin Reilly, president of the two channels. “Our industry is extremely challenged to find out our next iteration of the entertainment model,” Dewey said. “I spend a lot of time thinking about that. It’s daunting but exciting.”

CULTURE SHIFT AHEAD

Part of that future-building involves Time Warner Inc.’s pending merger with AT&T, and how Turner’s parent will meld into the telecommunications giant, noted Brett Weitz, executive vice president of TBS original programming. Culturally, AT&T is quite different than Time Warner and its Turner programming unit.

“She’s got a lot on her plate, but when you sit down with her, you’d never know that any of that exists,” said Weitz, who has worked with Dewey for about eight years and admires her coaching skills.

“She’s an inspiring leader to everybody, from the receptionist, to the guy that restocks the toilet paper, to executive vice presidents in the company,” he added. “There’s a lot of superficial conversations that occur in this business, but every time you have a conversation with Sandra, it’s a real conversation. You’re left feeling moved, inspired and ready to roll.”

One of Dewey’s biggest accomplishments in recent years has been creating Studio T, which currently has 15 shows in production. “It’s become one of the most prolific studios in the entire business,” Weitz said. “Three or four years ago, TNT and TBS weren’t producing any of their own content.”

Sarah Aubrey, TNT’s executive vice president of original programming, described Dewey as an agitator. “She’s always pushing us to keep our eyes constantly on the horizon.”

There’s a running theme in how Dewey is described by agents and other people who do business with her, Aubrey said: “Sandra’s tough but fair, and always keeps the big picture in mind about what we want and need. She’s a hardnosed negotiator, but at the same time, she’s someone that people enjoy talking to.”

As Turner’s lead dealmaker, Dewey has created ongoing relationships with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Conan O’Brien. She oversaw deals with Samantha Bee and Jason Jones for their two series, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee and The Detour, as well as for Steve and Nancy Carell’s Angie Tribeca, which is also produced by its star, Rashida Jones. Those shows, among cable’s top-ranked new comedies, are key to TBS’s rebranding.

On the TNT side of the house, Dewey oversaw deals for the series Animal Kingdom from John Wells Productions and an upcoming international coproduction with the U.K.’s Channel 4, Foreign Bodies.

Dewey said she doesn’t carry around any of those accomplishments as a “badge of honor.” But she’s particularly proud of her promotion to president, which occurred about two years ago — around 20 years after she joined Turner.

“I’m really keenly aware of what it takes to make that happen,” she said. “It is a really long and difficult road, particularly for women.

“I know that if I sit on that perch, I can talk to other people about what it means to be there. And I can think of it as a place where I can help and lead and encourage other people to be there too. And that means a lot to me.” One of her outlets for doing that is leading the Los Angeles division of a mentoring program called Turner Women Today.

The people aspect of running a business tends to get glossed over, Dewey said. Oftentimes, profits and losses, not exceptional staff members, are the focus of attention when measuring success. Dewey said she takes pride in getting the best people and encouraging them to do remarkable work.

“It takes a real eye and understanding to bring that out in people,” she said. “I pay a lot of attention to that. It’s a hugely satisfying part of my job.”

LEARNED FROM FIELDS

There was nothing about her childhood that suggested Dewey would become president of an entertainment company. She was raised in a small town in Northern California in the foothills below Lake Tahoe. But she ended up going to law school, and eventually worked for Bert Fields, the well-known entertainment lawyer.

Fields taught her some profound lessons. “He never was ill-mannered, under any circumstances,” Dewey said. “He won his cases and arguments by being well-prepared and well-spoken and presenting the right arguments.”

Women are often underestimated at the negotiating table, she noted, especially when they are well-mannered or gentle. She doesn’t do as much direct deal-making today as she once did, but in earlier years, “I could always tell when people were underestimating me. It was really easy for me to tease them along until the moment when I would be able to show my hand,” she said.

“You can’t confuse politeness with strength,” Dewey added. “But now I’ve been around a long time, and everyone knows me. There’s no mystery.”

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Kelly Abcarian

TITLE: Senior Vice President, Product Leadership, Nielsen

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Rising in the media research ranks at Nielsen since 2005, Kelly Abcarian oversees the strategic vision and roadmap for the firm’s National TV Ratings and Total Audience products, focused on the convergence of devices and crossplatform audience measurement. She was responsible for developing and delivering the first on-demand platform for the company’s Buy business and was instrumental in the delivery of Nielsen’s Online Campaign Ratings and Mobile Measurement Platforms.

MAJOR MENTORS: “The first one is Megan Clarken, president of product leadership at Nielsen. I truly would not be the person I am today without her influence. She has helped me to shape and build my personal brand by teaching me to consistently show up. She has also inspired me to raise my awareness of the value of how I may be perceived by others. The second one is Jack Wakshlag, the former chief research officer at Turner and current advisory board member at Simulmedia. Jack has inspired and encouraged me to challenge the status quo. He gave me the confidence that my ideas had value and merit and that there was a place for new and innovative ideas in media research and measurement.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “I like that I am always learning something new while getting the opportunity to solve really hard problems with really smart people. The outcomes of those results for Nielsen and the industry at large are always gratifying.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “You don’t have to have all the answers to take on a new opportunity or a new role in your career. The expression ‘fake it until you make it’ can work, and if you have the passion, work ethic and the commitment to do something, those three ingredients are enough.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “Spending time with friends and family is key to my relaxation. They are the lifeline of my existence, and I attribute all of my successes to the love and support that they give me. I also ensure that I get my own downtime, as I find it allows for my own personal reflection and rest enabling me to recharge my batteries to take on the next set of challenges.”

Pam Bertino

TITLE: Senior Vice President, Content Distribution, Pop TV

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: At Pop, a CBS-Lionsgate network seen in about 80 million homes, Pam Bertino leads content distribution and marketing as well as digital and international distribution, while overseeing content distribution and marketing teams based in Los Angeles. Since she joined Pop in 2014, she has helped the network secure new carriage agreements (along with key renewals) that added millions of homes in 2016. She reports to general counsel and COO David Mandell. Prior to Pop, she was senior VP of content distribution at Ovation in Los Angeles, after spending 15 years in distribution and affiliate roles at The Weather Channel. Earlier in her career, she served as VP, residential sales at Digital Music Express Inc. and worked on the Nissan Worldwide account at Chiat/Day/Mojo.

MAJOR MENTORS: “Decker Anstrom and Debora Wilson from The Weather Channel. Together we built the company to be the most-distributed cable network with more than 100 million subscribers — more than any other cable network at the time. These are two of the smartest and most people-oriented leaders I have ever known, who had the deep belief that great companies are made when the people running the company and doing the work are heavily invested in, listened to, supported, developed and well-compensated. This makes all the difference in the world.

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “The smart, super-creative people I work with on a day-to-day basis! We spend so much time in our working lives, and it is very important to enjoy working with great teams to bring new ideas to fruition. Great teamwork is the foundation to making amazing things happen.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “Treat the people you work with the same way you’d like to be treated yourself, with respect, kindness and dignity. Seek out their ideas, listen to them, and give them space to grow, and they will go the extra mile for you and the company.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “My favorite thing to do is spend time with my 9-year-old son, Kasher — riding bikes, watching Cartoon Network, traveling with him and watching him grow!”

Read More > The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Jocelyn Diaz

TITLE: Executive Vice President, Original Programming, EPIX

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: With bona fides established at ABC, HBO and elsewhere, Jocelyn Diaz joined EPIX in 2015, charged with building and creating the network’s first-ever foray and pipeline into original series. Less than a year and thousands of scripts later, EPIX launched not one but two scripted shows in 2016 with another (Get Shorty) slated for 2017. Filmed at different ends of the world (one, Graves, shot in New Mexico and the other, Berlin Station, on location in Berlin, Germany), Diaz regularly traveled to both sites, overseeing the direction and creation to make sure every detail was in place to be worthy of EPIX’s premiere shows. She came to EPIX from being vice president, Walt Disney Motion Picture Production, overseeing live-action feature development and production for the studio. Before taking on that role in 2011, she was vice president, HBO Entertainment, drama series, responsible for overseeing the development and production of dramatic series for the network, including such series as Boardwalk Empire and Big Love. She joined HBO from ABC Television where, over the course of several years, she worked on such award-winning series as Lost, Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies, NYPD Blue, The Practice and The Drew Carey Show.

MAJOR MENTORS: “I have been blessed to have many mentors every step of my career from the beginning at ABC through today.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “I like the breadth of things I get to work on — documentaries, comedies, scripted series, etc. And I love working closely with the creators of these projects to take ideas, develop them and turn them into stories and characters that connect with an audience.”

BEST CAREE RADVICE: “I would offer that working at something you love with a supportive work environment is the brass ring. I would focus on both of those aims and not lose sight of one or the other. If the work is great but the environment isn’t positive, the work and eventually one’s self will suffer.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “I love to hike, travel, read, cook and spend as much time with family and friends as possible.”

Carol Hinnant

TITLE: Senior Vice President, National Television, comScore

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Carol Hinnant has been a driving force in Rentrak-comScore’s television measurement from day one, including playing an integral role in signing CNBC, the company’s first major broadcast network for the TVEssentials service, while also working with other “early day” clients such as Bloomberg Television and MTV. She continues to negotiate some of the company’s largest network deals, recently having taken on the additional role of selling digital and cross-platform services to the industry since the merger of Rentrak and comScore in early 2016. Prior to comScore, she worked for 16 years at Rentrak, lastly as senior vice president, National Television Sales. She entered the media business via HBO’s legal department.

MAJOR MENTORS: “It was my parents that instilled a love of learning and created an appreciation of work ethic that have propelled me in my career, so I would have to say they were my earliest mentors. John Redpath, Matthew Kasman and Cathy Hetzel have been the strongest influence in my media career. I feel very privileged to have received such great training during my tenure at HBO. Both the legal and sales operations experience positioned me well for every job I have had since my departure in 1998. Bill Livek and Chris Wilson have challenged me and pushed me to greater success and I deeply respect their talents, but I would have to say that Cathy Hetzel has been my greatest role model, mentor and friend over the last 10 years and I wouldn’t be here without her sage advice and leadership.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “The variety of people, networks and challenges that are presented daily are what I enjoy most about my job, I am never bored. I love learning about my client’s business and challenges and using my experience and comScore’s measurement resources to find solutions.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “At any point in your career, if you approach each task or challenge with a mindset of learning something new, you will always find your work rewarding.’

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “I enjoy spending time with my children, extended family and good friends — whether that be on the golf course, beach, taking a walk or enjoying a great meal.”

Marva Johnson

TITLE: Vice President, State Government Affairs-South, Charter Communications

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Marva Johnson, the former corporate vice president of government and industry affairs at Bright House Networks, now with Charter Communications, oversees state government affairs in nine Southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. She had joined Bright House (acquired by Charter last year) in 2006 and helped bring the company’s competitive local-exchange carrier (CLEC) forward from concept to operational reality, as Bright House became the second-largest wireline provider of voice services in Florida. Earlier, she had been general counsel at Supra Telecommunications and VP and senior counsel for KMC Telecommunications.

MAJOR MENTORS: “I have been fortunate to have had many mentors and coaches in my career, but there are two that stand out most prominently to me right now: Nomi Bergman and Roscoe Young. Both of these phenomenal individuals were excellent role models and demonstrated the power of leading with authenticity and a focus on excellence.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “I love working in an industry that is rapidly improving the world we live in. With every upgrade on bandwidth and reliability we bring to the market, we open the door to more possibilities for new, more innovative, applications and services.”

BEST CAREE RADVICE: “While we should endeavor to always have a plan and a strategy, never be afraid to adjust your course to meet the changing landscape. Sometimes despite the vast wealth of educational, career and technical training we bring to the table, resiliency and flexibility are the skills that we need to conquer the new challenges in front of us.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “Spending time with my family tops the list every day. Raising a family and managing in a two career household has its challenges. We try to make sure that we never take the time that we spend together for granted.

Vicki Jones

TITLE: Senior Vice President, Customer Experience and Operations, AT&T Entertainment Group

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Vicki Jones’s team is responsible for end-to-end Customer Experience strategy, investment and execution, and overall operations support for AT&T’s mobility and consumer businesses, including channels such as retail sales and distribution, sales and service centers, commercial and connected communities. Her team also supports the Apple relationship and the wireless reseller business — business units that generate more than $120 billion in annualized revenue. Her team also owns the delivery of FCC merger conditions associated with the DirecTV transaction and Entertainment Group compliance and audit support. Earlier, she held numerous leadership positions within AT&T and DirecTV.

MAJOR MENTORS: ”I have had many men and women who have served as mentors throughout my career. And I have learned from all of them. What is perhaps unique is that most of my mentors have been women. It is great that AT&T has had so many women in leadership positions who have supported the advancement of other women.“

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “From the first day of my career I have loved serving customers. The products and services we provide are at the center of people’s lives, so finding ways to make their experiences effortless and inspiring are huge motivators for me. I have the privilege of leading the Customer Experience and Operations team for AT&T’s consumer businesses. We have the unique opportunity to deliver a set of integrated solutions for mobilized entertainment that customers can only get from AT&T. Our Chairman and CEO places Customer Experience as one of his top priorities which gives us support to make necessary investments to help achieve our objectives.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “Dream big and avoid limited thinking. Build a strong network of trusted partners. Be resilient and positive.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “My husband and I enjoy spending time with our family and friends and playing golf together.”

Jacki Kelley

TITLE: Chief Operating Officer, Bloomberg Media

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Rising from intern to senior vice president of advertising at USA Today before working at other wellknown brands such as Yahoo!, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, UM WW and IPG Mediabrands, Jacki Kelley has made an indelible mark on each organization. At Bloomberg Media since 2014, she has formalized programs focused on the recruitment, development and retention of diverse employees, making her one of Bloomberg’s champions of inclusion. She spearheaded this year a six-part TV and video series “Big Problems, Big Thinkers,” targeting solutions to big threats facing humanity.

MAJOR MENTORS: “I have been fortunate to be mentored by many as I pick people first, then roles and companies! It’s one of the reaons I came to Bloomberg Media as our CEO, Justin Smith, is a proven visionary and a compassionate leader. One mentor that I often single out is Tom Curley, who was the president and publisher of USA Today before becoming the head of the Associated Press. While many people have believed in me and advocated for my growth, Tom pushed me at a time when I was certain I was not ready for the role. I was less experienced than my peers and lacked the confidence to believe I could do the job. He saw things in me that I did not yet see in myself and he pushed me to stretch. I am grateful that rather than seeing my hesitation as weakness, he pushed me to gain a new level of confidence.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “In a world of growing populism and fake news, I could not be more excited about the important role that Bloomberg plays and the value we bring to our audience, advertisers and distribution partners. Also, most people don’t realize that a majority of Bloomberg profits go to Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is making the world a better and safer place on many levels. Knowing our efforts are creating lasting change is a real point of pride for all of us at Bloomberg.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “My career advice is to pick people. We all spend a lot of time at work and it has to be something that fills our souls and enhances our lives. At the essence of this is culture and leadership. Pick people that inspire you. Pick people that you can learn from. Pick people that have a track record of advocating for others. I would also offer to pick learning over climbing.”

Margaret Lazo

TITLE: Chief Human Relations Officer, Univision

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: At Univision Communications, the leading media company serving Hispanic America, Margaret Lazo leads human capital strategy, including leadership development, succession planning, advancing diversity and inclusion, organizational design, employee relations and compensation and benefits. In line with the organization, her goal is to attract the finest talent in the industry to UCI while retaining and empowering the team currently in place. Lazo joined UCI from GE Capital, where she lately served as human resources leader for the North American Commercial Lending and Leasing businesses. Earlier, she served in a number of human-resources leadership roles at NBCUniversal, including for the cable and broadcast entertainment and digital properties, for Telemundo Communications Group and for NBC’s owned television stations division. She began her career in human-resources management at retailer Macy’s.

MAJOR MENTORS: “I have been fortunate to work with a terrific cadre of professionals throughout my career, both in human resources and outside, whom I have learned from, who have pushed me to take on many challenges and helped me evolve my own leadership style and remain in my circle of trusted go-to advisers today.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “Partnering with my colleagues to achieve strategic objectives through their teams keeps me energized. Identifying talent and coaching for success is very rewarding; I truly enjoy seeing people grow and flourish in their careers.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “Seek out opportunities to grow experientially. Raise your hand for the challenging assignment, whether it’s a business turnaround or a new venture, something that takes you out of your comfort zone, and make your mark. With high risk comes high reward. You will benefit tremendously from the experience and likely leap forward for doing so. I always say, the tough stuff makes you stronger!”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “These days, it’s enjoying quality time with my family. My three-year-old twin daughters keep me busy!”

Lauren LoFrisco

TITLE: Executive Vice President, Distribution and Business Management, iN DEMAND

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Lauren LoFrisco heads up the team that focuses on the transactional content distribution company’s distribution sales, research and public relations initiatives. Her team works closely with multi-video provider clients and programming partners to find product and marketing efficiencies and promotions to improve buys and revenue of video-on-demand, pay-perview and multi-platform services. Earlier, she was group VP of marketing for Time Warner Cable and before that helped launch the Road Runner High Speed Online broadband service as VP of marketing. She also was a distribution account director at HBO and started out in cable ad sales at Harron Communications.

MAJOR MENTORS: “Only after years of working in the industry and my participation in the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute did I truly understand the influence my family’s strong women had on me. My grandmothers were both very independent women whose unique core beliefs inspired multiple generations. And my mother’s tenacity and flexibility in managing major shifts is part of my DNA.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “The thrill of identifying an opportunity and launching a plan to leverage iN DEMAND’s strengths to the benefit of our clients and programming partners. I love the dynamic change underway in the VOD universe, and the exponential growth in consumer video entertainment options.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “With Change Comes Opportunity. Learn from your mistakes. Create your own personal board of directors who can provide guidance and honest feedback. Spend thoughtful time to continuously learn. Present both challenges and positive encouragement to others.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “I appreciate the time I can spend with my husband, my family and my friends. With two teens, I am in a daily role of mentoring, only they don’t respond as positively as mentees that I have had the pleasure of working with!” I love to watch movies, hike, go boating and travel to new places.”

Kathy McMahon

TITLE: Vice President of Affiliate Sales, NBC Sports Regional Networks

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Kathy McMahon, in a position she has held since 2007, oversees all aspects of affiliate sales, marketing and operations for NBC Sports Group’s eight regional sports networks, including CSN Philadelphia, CSN Bay Area, CSN Chicago, CSN Mid-Atlantic and SportsNet New York. She is responsible for the distribution of networks that televise more than 2,200 live sports events per year, along with award-winning news and analysis programming, to more than more than 43 million homes in the nation’s top markets. McMahon joined NBC Sports Regional Networks (then Comcast Sports Group) from CSN Mid-Atlantic and its predecessor, Home Team Sports (HTS). During her 12 years with the Washington, D.C./Baltimore-area network, she held a number of positions, including vice president of marketing and affiliate relations from 2002 to 2007. McMahon and her husband, Trent, reside in Brookeville, Md., with their three children. She is a Washington area native.

MAJOR MENTORS: “I have been fortunate to have several great mentors. One in particular is Dana Zimmer, who introduced me to the industry. She is very talented and always took the time and effort to share her knowledge and experience, while always maintaining a good sense of humor in the most challenging times. Dana remains a good friend and colleague.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “Luckily, quite a lot. Working in sports and having the opportunity to learn from the industry’s best and brightest is inspiring, especially as we grow and adapt in this rapidly changing media landscape. I also enjoy that every day brings new and unique challenges and that my role allows me to work with many great colleagues across the company, our networks and our league and team partners.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “Ask a lot of questions and be curious. If you continue to learn and accept new challenges, great opportunities will follow.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “Spending time with my husband and three children and enjoying the Chesapeake Bay, especially its beautiful sunsets.”

Shereta Williams

TITLE: President, Videa

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Shereta Williams brings two decades of professional and industry experience to Videa, the programmatic TV vendor owned by Cox Media Group. Videa partners with TV stations to deliver a live, supply-side marketplace for full schedule, forward reserve ad inventory that can be ordered weeks or quarters in advance. As president, she leads the organization’s overall strategic and product direction.

She has more than a decade of experience with Cox in various investment, strategy and development roles focused on digital media and broadcast television. Prior to Videa, she served as managing director at a financial start-up focused on algorithmic trading, and she began her career in mergers and acquisitions at Lazard.

Williams is passionate about developing products and services that solve large-scale problems. She has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she served as president of the National Society of Black Engineers. When she is not leading the team at Videa, she is most likely on a hiking trail or boating in north Florida.

MAJOR MENTORS: “Like most folks, my biggest mentors are people you’ve never heard of — my parents, my early teachers, and later in life some of my biggest mentors have been my classmates from MIT, many of whom are leading various organizations around the world.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “The opportunity to solve a large-scale problem by building a team of really smart and fun people. I have been lucky to work for a great company for a very long time, so being able to create growth and contribute to the Cox story is also very rewarding.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “My career advice, and advice for life in general, can be boiled down to two things — be true to yourself and do what you love. These two things should lead you to a good path.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “Anything outdoors — hiking, kayaking, walking our dog, traveling somewhere beautiful or different, and of course spending time with family and friends — preferably over good food and drinks.”

Amy Winter

TITLE: Executive Vice President and General Manager, UP TV

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Amy Winter oversees and offers creative guidance for UP TV’s brand and programming, including the development and production of movies, scripted series and unscripted series, as well as scheduling and acquisitions, marketing, public relations, digital and social media. Since joining the network, she has significantly re-energized its brand. Under the tagline “We Get Family,” UP increased its second-quarter ratings and saw its average audience age fall by almost 10 years. UP scored with a Gilmore Girls binge-a-thon that led up to the Netflix’s launch of new episodes of the series. Other originals and acquisitions include Growing Up McGhee; Small Town, Big Mayor; Bringing Up Bates and Parenthood. Winter joined UP in 2015 from Discovery Communications, where she was executive VP and general manager of TLC.

MAJOR MENTORS: “My mother, who taught me empathy and insight by constantly asking me ‘How would that make you feel?’ Eileen O’Neill, my former boss at Discovery, for her combination of competitive nature and compassion. Charley Humbard, CEO of UP, [who taught me] the fearlessness of being purpose-driven.”

LIKES MOST ABOUT HER JOB: “My favorite part of my job happens in two parts: the first is being in a room full of talented people as they get excited about an idea that we are bringing to life and watching as they take it on, own it and talk through how to make it even better. The second is when they return with the results of all their work — and it’s surprising and delightful and even better than you expected. The thing is, though, I expect to be delighted like that every time.”

BEST CAREER ADVICE: “I believe that the greatest creativity occurs in teams with trust. If you haven’t nurtured that environment even the most talented people can lose focus or play too safe or against each other and the work suffers because collaboration breaks down. It is a must to be competitive, but I’ll never understand why some environments turn that competition inwardly resulting in bad blood. We all want to win. Let’s win together.”

ENJOYS DURING DOWNTIME: “Now there’s a thought. What WOULD I do?”

In November, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl sat down with then-President-elect Donald Trump for his first interview since his surprising election win over Hillary Clinton. Being in front of a breaking story is nothing new for the 40-year broadcast news veteran.

From her prominent coverage of the Watergate affair as a CBS reporter in 1972; to her stint as a CBS White House correspondent during the Carter, Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations; to her stint as moderator of Sunday-morning staple Face the Nation from 1983-91; to her 26-year run on 60 Minutes, Stahl has set a standard for future women — and men — in journalism. She has earned 12 Emmy Awards and, in 2015, she received the Paul White Award for lifetime achievement from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

Stahl, the recipient of the inaugural Multichannel News Woman of Influence award, reflected on her career in an interview with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead. Stahl — whose most recent book, Becoming Grandma, will be released in paperback form in advance of Mother’s Day — also opines on the challenges that women reporters have experienced over the last four decades, as well as what broadcast journalism might look like in the future.

Following is an edited excerpt of their wide-ranging conversation.

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

MCN:When you started your career in broadcast journalism more than 40 years ago, did you ever think that you would have achieved as much as you have?

Lesley Stahl: When I started back in the very early ’70s, it was kind of a rule of thumb for some that women would not survive on television past the age of 40. It was just a given — women will not be able to age on television. Everybody believed it; I believed it. That’s just the way it was. So the answer to your question is you no, I never thought I’d survive. I thought I’d have to go and find something else to do after I turned 40.

MCN:What was the turning point that changed things so women journalists like yourself could have long and rewarding TV careers?

LS: The women’s rights movement was just beginning to bubble up when I started out in this profession. My timing was exquisite — when I was hired by CBS News In 1972, I was working at a local television station in Boston at that point. In 1972, the word went out that affirmative action was in effect, and all three network-television news organizations were literally scouring the country for women and minorities. I heard about this and applied, so I think my timing was excellent. The early ’70s was the first wave and there have been waves and waves ever since.

MCN:How do you think women newscasters are viewed today, by the industry and by the public in general?

LS: I think they’re pretty used to it now. If you go to virtually any local market in the country and turn on your television at around 5 or 6 o’clock at night you’re probably going to see a man and a woman sitting there together giving the news, and in some markets, it’s just a woman. The sea change is enormous. I think that people don’t even think about it anymore.

MCN:A lot of people will attribute much of the success of today’s female newscasters to trail you blazed over your career. Were there certain events or certain stories that you covered that really stand out in your mind?

LS: Well, I think there were some breaks that I got. When CBS first hired me in April of 1972, the Watergate burglary happened. Now nobody, I mean nobody, thought that was going to be a national story. I had only been there a couple months and they sent me off to cover Watergate. That was probably my major break, and because I was assigned to a story that lasted for years. I was able to learn how to develop sources, investigate and dig, which I think reporters in the beginning of their careers don’t get a chance to do because they’re shuttled from one story to the next story.

MCN:What advice would you give to a young woman journalist looking to get into the business today?

LS: I’d say start out on the Web. You have to learn how to be a different kind of correspondent than I was because you’re probably not going to have the kind of backup I did. As a broadcast reporter, I’ve always had a camera pool and a producer travel with me — this was true when I covered the White House; it’s true today at 60 Minutes. If you’re a reporter online, you’re basically by yourself — you’re shooting the story yourself, you’re editing the story yourself, you’re doing everything — you’re what we call a one-man band. Journalism will not work the way it looks today, and broadcast journalists will not go about getting their stories out the way we do and did. It’s changed already. I’m just very lucky that I’m still at one of the few outlets that does it the old-fashioned way.

MCN:What’s next in the career of Lesley Stahl?

LS: Well, you know, 60 Minutes is this precious, separate little entity but it’s still extremely popular. Our ratings are very strong and because of that we really do journalism the old-fashioned way in many ways. Because we’re still very popular I don’t think we’re going to be going away all that soon, so that’s all good for me personally, and good for the country too because I think there is a hunger for what we do.

I think that people who are considering what journalism will look like on the Web ought to keep in mind that there is a huge audience for long, well-informed, well-reported, story-telling stories.

CHRISTINA SPADE

TITLE: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

COMPANY: Showtime Networks

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: After graduating from St. Joseph’s University in 1991, Spade started working at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor. Showtime named her vice president, programming finance in 1997, promoting her to senior vice president of affiliate and finance operations in 2003, finding funding for the premium channel’s fledgling original programming slate. Spade became EVP and CFO in 2013, after predecessor Jerry Scro retired.

QUOTABLE: “I’ve always had a high threshold for stress. I guess I’ve been through enough stress that it doesn’t rattle me.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

To make it in the finance world, it helps to have a little pit bull to go alongside the requisite financial acumen and people skills. Showtime Networks executive vice president and chief financial officer Christina Spade has a healthy dose of all three of those traits.

“She knows how to be tough,” said one of her bosses, Showtime Networks chairman Matt Blank. “But somehow she manages to maintain that and does it in a way that she never offends anybody. People know that Chris knows her stuff. And they better know their stuff, too.”

Spade has been at Showtime for nearly 20 years, but her relationship with the company goes back even further. She audited the company’s books for accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for five years before joining the programmer in 1997 as vice president of programming finance. She was promoted to senior vice president of affiliate and financial operations in 2003, in charge of finding and allocating funds for Showtime’s fledgling original series endeavors.

STARTED OUT ACCOUNTING

After financing Showtime originals from Dexter to Homeland, Spade was named EVP and CFO in 2013, taking over for Jerry Scro, who retired that year after more than two decades with the company.

Television wasn’t Spade’s career plan when she graduated from St. Joseph’s University in 1991 with an accounting degree. She got a job at Big Six accounting firm PwC, auditing companies in its Philadelphia office. After auditing a Philadelphia publishing company for a week, PwC decided she was ready to move to the New York office and its entertainment and media division.

“Showtime was very small back then,” Spade recalled. “They were a one-week audit. But I saw the potential of them breaking out. And even though they were small, they were growing. They were very feisty, very go-get-’em. It was a fun, entrepreneurial environment to be a part of.”

Showtime was an established premium movie channel when such channels were mostly all about movies. That changed after rival HBO broke through with The Sopranos. Suddenly, linear series were the rage and Showtime dove in headfirst.

Starting with series like Stargate SG-1 in 1997 and later with the likes of Weeds (2005), Dexter (2006), Nurse Jackie (2009) and current hits Homeland, Ray Donovan and Shameless, Showtime has become a force in scripted series.

But finding the money to invest in those shows required some belt-tightening. After being named SVP of affiliate and financial operations, Spade realized she would have to make some changes. The sales group, headed by SVP Jeff Wade, had too many people and some streamlining was in order. That’s where the feistier side of Spade’s personality came in handy.

“Jeff was a famous character,” Spade said. “He was tough and he was brutal and he liked to yell, a very full-of-life type of guy. I was very pit-bullish: I didn’t take any crap from anybody. As an auditor, you develop a thick skin.”

Showtime reorganized the group from 45 workers down to about 20 people, she said, automating some functions and preparing for the next distribution technology, nationwide direct-broadcast satellite.

Wade, who died of brain cancer in 2004, became a close friend and mentor for Spade, joining Blank; David Nevins, who is Blank’s successor as CEO; Showtime chief operating officer Tom Christie; and Joe Ianiello, chief operating officer of Showtime parent company CBS Corp., as executives who have helped her pilot her career.

The biggest catalyst has been Spade’s own savvy, said Blank. Spade’s financial tutelage has helped push Showtime profit margins in the mid-40% range — one of the highest in the business — by keeping a keen eye on costs as well as allocating funds for new projects.

One of those new projects was the Showtime standalone over-the-top service launched last year.

Nevins said Spade’s ability to allocate funds to different units when needed was critical to the standalone Showtime service’s successful launch.

“The way she balanced that throughout the year, she threaded the needle brilliantly and we’ve built a nine-figure business without denting margins,” Nevins said. “That takes a lot of finesse and execution.”

Spade said part of what attracted her to Showtime was the sense of family that pervaded the corporate culture. At no time was that more evident than when Spade was confronted with every parent’s nightmare, the loss of a child.

In December 2010, Spade’s 21-month old daughter, Alexandra Tilly Rettler, died after suddenly going into cardiac arrest.

“She was perfectly healthy,” Spade said. “We still don’t even know what happened. When you go through something like that, you have to look at every day as a gift.”

BUILDING A FOUNDATION

Shortly after, Spade; her husband, Luke Rettler, who heads up the New York County District Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit, and his colleague Eric Snyder set up the Alexandra Tilly Rettler Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization geared to helping children in need.

Starting with a goal of raising $50,000, the foundation has raised more than $200,000 to date. Spade said her Showtime family helped her through that horrific time. “The support here is just amazing,” she said.

Spade and Rettler have two sons — Lee, age 10, and Brady, age 5 — and Showtime has enabled her to devote as much time as possible to them.“If my son has a play, I’m going to go to it, and I’ll check in before and after,” she said. “It’s accepted and encouraged. There is a lot of flexibility.”

Blank noted Spade’s own perseverance, character and strength.

“She has had certain personal challenges of the toughest kind,” he said. “I think those challenges have made her stronger and given her great perspective in everything she does, in terms of how she relates to people, her professional and personal goals. She’s a great mom, with a fantastic family. She’s one of the hardest working people I know. She’s competitive, determined — she hates it when she can’t get something done — and she has great self-awareness. I think she has unlimited potential at Showtime and CBS.”

The editors of Multichannel News are proud to introduce the 2017 class of Wonder Women, the 19th such class of accomplished and influential women from multichannel media industries to be honored by the magazine. The vision, commitment and leadership shown by these executives have fostered the success of their companies while driving overall industry growth and innovation.

Multichannel News is also recognizing 12 Women to Watch, whose ongoing contributions are emblematic of the vital roles they’re likely to play in the industry’s future. Additionally, MCN this year will honor CBS News veteran and 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl as the inaugural winner of the Woman of Influence award, honoring her career in electronic journalism.

This year’s Wonder Women class will be lauded March 23 at a gala luncheon at the New York Hilton, cohosted by the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications. For much more on the event and on this year’s honorees, visit mcnwonderwomen.com. To read profiles and other editorial coverage of previous Wonder Women classes, click here.

PROFILES
Jana Bennett, History
Sandra Dewey, Turner
Laura Gentile, ESPN
Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Univision
Colleen Langner, Cox
Susanne McAvoy, Crown Media Family Networks
Jamie Power, Modi Media
Linda Schupack, AMC and SundanceTV
Myrna Soto, Comcast
Christina Spade, Showtime
Sandra Stern, Lionsgate
Lisa Williams-Fauntroy, Discovery

WOMAN OF INFLUENCE
Leslie Stahl, CBS News

WOMEN TO WATCH

LAURA GENTILE

TITLE: Senior Vice President, espnW and Women’s Initiatives

COMPANY: ESPN

CAREE R HIGHLIGHTS: Before ESPN, Gentile was senior partner, management supervisor at Ogilvy & Mather. As part of ESPN’s office of the president (George Bodenheimer), she was instrumental in creating the “ESPN on ABC” brand, which is used on ABC for sports event and documentary programming. ESPN and ABC are both part of The Walt Disney Co.

QUOTABLE: “I’ve worked on espnW for seven or eight years, but the early years were about research, about just getting started and building a team. It really wasn’t until about four years ago that I felt like we were able to surround ourselves with really great, expert people. And that makes all the difference.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

People used to snicker at Laura Gentile when she was a kid because she played sports with boys all the time. “People thought I was a little strange because I loved sports so much. And I remember feeling like an outcast at Brownies, because I just couldn’t relate to what they were doing,” she recalled with a laugh.

But life as a jock served her well, eventually leading her to create a series of properties at ESPN expressly for people like herself: women who have a passion for sports.

No one would think of her as an outcast anymore. “It’s funny how a lot of life experiences sometimes add up to the perfect job,” said Gentile, who’s senior vice president of espnW and women’s initiatives.

ATHLETE WITH HONORS

She was a star athlete in high school on Long Island and at Duke University, where she was a two-time field hockey captain and garnered All-America and All-ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) honors.

After receiving an MBA in marketing and organizational behavior at Boston College, she had an early stint at Ogilvy & Mather. She jumped to ESPN in an advertising and marketing role and rose up through the ranks, eventually becoming the network’s vice president and chief of staff.

She then took the espnW ball and ran with it. “I’ve always felt women had to be a part of our future at ESPN in order for us to be relevant and continue to grow,” Gentile said. “Women are a super-powerful audience for us to serve. And it’s ultimately an opportunity for the entire industry, to serve women more equally.”

espnW started out as a blog about six years ago. Since then, it has stretched into a series of assets that include a website, radio, television, film and event brand extensions both in the States and internationally. Brazil was the first country to pick up on the espnW opportunity, and other overseas spinoffs are in the works.

espnW’s Women + Sports Summit, a two-day event that features top athletes, is now in its eighth year. About a year ago, the brand added a one-day spinoff summit in Chicago and a strand of campus conversations about women’s sports in seven to 10 universities.

Last July and August, espnW attracted about 12 million unique visitors per month, partly due to the Olympics. Its sports experts add their perspectives to programs on ESPN, including SportsCenter and Outside the Lines, garnering further awareness for the brand.

Said former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team member Julie Foudy, now an ESPN analyst and espnW contributor: “Laura really has been a trailblazer in this space for women. She created a model that many people didn’t believe in. I’m sure there were a lot of people internally in the early stages that thought, ‘This is never going to make it.’ I think her greatest accomplishment is showing the value of [the female sports] market.”

“To me, Laura embodies espnW, and that’s what makes her such an effective executive,” John Kosner, ESPN’s executive vice president, digital and print media, added. “She willed it to happen and brings her passion to bear on it every day.”

When the huge issue of domestic violence and the National Football League became a focus of national attention, espnW talent became voices of authority on other channels as well, like CNN and MSNBC.

While all of that was going on, Gentile was helping to forge the Global Sports Mentoring Program with the U.S. State Department, which pairs emerging women leaders from around the world with top U.S. women executives. She also is a key influencer at Sports 4 Life, a grant program developed by espnW and the Women’s Sports Foundation that aims to increase the participation and retention of African-American and Hispanic girls in sports.

While the brand she created chronicles the feats of amazing sportswomen, Gentile has several important males in her life. There’s her husband, Tom Baggott, whom she met while working at Ogilvy & Mather. There’s her dad, who went to every game Gentile played in, became her softball coach and her “No. 1 golf partner.”

There are her two sons, Will and Beau. (She’s pregnant with a third child, on the way in April.) And then there’s her mentor, George Bodenheimer, a former president of both ESPN and ABC Sports.

“George demystified corporate leadership for me. He was a very relatable guy. He used his better judgment and sought out information and then he was decisive,” Gentile said.

Another mentor is Christine Driessen, executive vice president and CFO at ESPN. “She’s a mentor to many rising women at ESPN,” Gentile said. She noted the significant role Driessen has played during her 20-plus years at ESPN, making sure major decisions were truly right for the company. “She’s a truthsayer. She’s the backbone of what’s right and true at lot of times.”

FINDING FANS YEAR-ROUND

Gentile’s role in finding what’s “right and true” for espnW is far from done. One challenge involves a certain brainteaser: “Outside of the big events, like the U.S. Open and the Women’s World Cup, how do you draw people to the website?” Foudy said. “How do you get them interested in a women’s softball league or the women’s ice hockey team at the Olympics? There’s so much great content out there that’s not in the mainstream.”

Kosner notes another “to do” item: “Our goal is not just to create a great ESPN property for women, but rather to bring more women to ESPN. That’s relatively new behavior, so it’s a challenge.”

“We’ve built a strong foundation,” Gentile said, “but to really change the industry, and for the industry to truly be inclusive of women — as fans, as commentators, as journalists, as athletes — there’s still a long way to go.”

COLLEEN LANGNER

NAME: Colleen Langner

TITLE: Senior Vice President, Marketing Operations

COMPANY: Cox Communications

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Helped launch cable’s first triple-play bundle while a Cox marketer in Orange County, Calif. Launched first Cox Solutions Stores (there are now more than 100). Steadily adding responsibilities, she now leads all marketing operations, including customer acquisition and retention teams, and media planning and buying, reporting to EVP Mark Greatrex.

QUOTABLE: “I always want to be in a role where I’m closest to the consumer. The consumer will tell you their wants and desires.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Colleen Langner got “the cable bug” with her first job out of college (Marquette University), working with the cable marketing council in her hometown of Chicago. The road to her current role as senior vice president of marketing operations for Cox Communications included milestones like helping the MSO launch broadband Internet service, digital telephone and digital cable in a groundbreaking three-service bundled offering in Orange County, Calif.

Her husband Dan’s job took them west, in 1990; her career rise at Cox brought them to Atlanta about four years ago. Along the way, they have raised three teenage sons who have grown up with the business.

“I had my oldest when digital cable launched, and I had my second when high-speed Internet came around and then, when I had my third, it was phone,” she said recently, referring to 19-year-old Jack, 16-year-old Corey and 14-year-old Ryan. “My husband said to me, ‘There’s no more products.’ So thank God we didn’t launch home security until recently.”

‘COOL AS A CUCUMBER’

That sense of humor is part of what makes Langner, in Cox chief operating officer Jill Campbell’s words, “an extremely positive, optimistic leader.”

Campbell gave an example. During a period last year when Cox was trying to increase its average revenue per customer and people were bombarding Langner with ideas, Langner remained “cool as a cucumber,” thanking everyone and praising their suggestions.

“She never, never says negative things,” Campbell said. “People really want to follow her and they will take the hill because of how she presents things.”

Mark Greatrex, Cox’s chief marketing and sales officer, credits her help as a key lieutenant in leading two big transformations of the marketing team, moving from state-by-state approaches to a centralized one with nationwide portfolios in categories such as customer acquisition and retention and digital outreach.

Among other attributes, she’s agile at tweaking campaigns on the fly and moving marketing resources around quickly as needed, Greatrex said. “In a very high change environment, that’s tremendously important.”

Change was certainly in the air in mid 1990s Orange County, when Cox began offering an alternative to the then-Pacific Bell phone monopoly and introduced high-speed Internet to consumers weary of dial-up modems. “We used to say with high-speed Internet, we all lived in Missouri, the show-me state. People had to see it to believe it, to see how fast it was.”

Digital cable, which upped the channel ante from 30 to hundreds and added an on-screen guide to sort through them, was another revelation marketers wanted consumers to experience first hand.

Kip Simonson, who was Langner’s boss at the Cox system back then (and now works at Mediacom Communications), said Langner was adept at helping branch out into this new realm of retail marketing. One weekend, Simonson said, Cox set up a 10,000-square-foot tent in the parking lot of a CompUSA store and, he recalled, more than 5,000 people showed up to try out the new products.

“She was a huge help in setting up big events,” he said.

The Mediacom marketer saw Langner at the recent CES in Las Vegas. In an interview shortly after the gadget-fest ended, Langner said highlights for her were “around smart home: home security, home innovation and how our products are now working together.”

Keeping up (or even staying ahead) of what consumers want nowadays leads Langner into marketing those home-monitoring and automation services in Cox Homelife, and clueing Cox consumers into the benefits of the new Contour video platform, with voice remote and enhanced search, and Gigabit Internet.

When Cox reintroduced Contour — now incorporating X1 technology developed by Comcast — she led an employee campaign within Cox to make everyone a knowledgeable ambassador for New Contour. “She has got tremendous collaboration and influencing skills,” Greatrex noted, both for communicating with her team of more than 100 employees and for dealing with her senior-management peers.

ALL ABOUT TEAM BUILDING

Langner said she gets a lot of satisfaction from watching the personal growth by members of her team as they learn new capabilities made possible by data and technology to get to new levels of marketing — “seeing how they’ve flourished and the accomplishments they’ve made not only at Cox but within the industry.”

“For me, it’s really around building teams that I can trust and know that people have your back,” she said. “That’s what I instill with my team members. And make sure they also stay close to the consumer. … I think that can lift and move the whole business forward.”

The youngest of six children, Langner’s dad (her pre-married surname was McKay) was a Chicago city policeman and her mom was a bank vice president.

In addition to Campbell and Greatrex and former Cox marketing chief Joe Rooney, Langner counts her mom, Pat, who is now 85, as a mentor “and a role model. Gosh, if she can do it with six kids. I only have three.”

Keeping up with her sons’ activities, including football and wrestling, keeps her busy outside of work. Since moving east from Southern California, the family maintains a love of the beach by visiting ones on the Gulf Coast, including Destin, Fla., and gets back to the Golden State at least a couple of times a year.

“I like to say there’s nothing that a good book and a walk on the beach can’t help.”

SUSANNE MCAVOY

TITLE: Executive Vice President, Marketing, Creative and Communications

COMPANY: Crown Media Family Networks

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: From her beginnings with Turner International in Hong Kong, McAvoy was part of building such influential brands as Oxygen, Comcast Spotlight and Bravo.

QUOTABLE: “I feel like the people I mentor today can really teach me a lot about how they perceive the world, how they perceive technology, even down to what some of the [social media] acronyms are.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

I look at the women over the years and it seems a little surreal to have my name be on that list,” Susanne McAvoy said of being honored among the 2017 Wonder Women. “There’s a lot more that I want to do, and then I think, ‘Wow, does that mean if I do more I’m all of a sudden a hall of famer?’”

If so, McAvoy just might have a spot. As executive vice president of marketing, creative and communications for Crown Media Family Networks, McAvoy has led the marketing and communications efforts for the company’s key entertainment channels, looking to keep them up to date while ensuring they stay in sync with the 106-year-old Hallmark brand.

Her first charge was the 2012 rebranding of Hallmark Channel. “For us, it was a repositioning in that we really needed to look at what we represented to the consumers,” McAvoy said. “We know that Hallmark represents this huge range of emotions — we know that from the brick-and-mortar brand [and] from what people say about Hallmark. So how do we in television contemporize the brand knowing we can’t change the logo, we can’t change our heritage and pedigree?”

GETTING TO THE ‘HEART’

After working through various taglines, she said, “It was kind of like this obvious duh! moment: We’re the heart of TV. We’re all about emotions. Then we went through the whole thing: Is ‘TV’ antiquated? And no, the word TV isn’t antiquated. People say ‘I watch TV on my iPad,’ or ‘I watch TV on my Android.’ We looked at other things like, ‘Hallmark Feels Right’ or ‘Hallmark Makes You Feel Good.’ No, we represent ‘The Heart of TV.’ ”

The rebranding of Hallmark Movie Channel to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in 2014 proved a different challenge. For this, McAvoy liaised with the principals at Hallmark Cards — representing nearly 4,000 Hallmark Gold Crown retail stores — who were not thrilled with the prospects of including “Mysteries” in the brand title, despite whodunits carrying some of the channel’s highest-rated dayparts.

“They really felt like mysteries and Hallmark didn’t belong together,” she recalls of those exchanges. “It was like: What doesn’t belong? Cat. Dog. Squirrel. Apple. Hallmark and mysteries, in their mind, just didn’t go together.”

Along with Crown Media president and CEO Bill Abbott, McAvoy went through “a long exercise of explaining” the benefits to the brand, to advertisers and to distributors, she said.

Two and a half years later, HMM is another jewel in McAvoy’s rebranding crown. “Because we’re still Hallmark,” she said. “We’re very true to our viewer. We’re not trying to be edgier or younger, we’re just trying to be contemporary in the entertainment space today.”

Said Ian Karr of McAvoy: “She knows what the brand is and she understands how to build that brand with her audience.” Karr, founder, producer and director at IKA Collective, has worked with McAvoy to launch series promos, behind-scenes packages and programming stunts for Hallmark Channel and HMM. “Susanne is about growing the audience organically, not just by having the next Kardashians show, but by deepening our ties with our viewers because she’s representative of the audience.”

A career in communications had long been on McAvoy’s trajectory. While a senior at Vanderbilt University, the Mobile, Ala., native did a full-semester internship on the news desk during the 1992 Bush-Clinton presidential election, with dreams of becoming the next Katie Couric.

“But what I learned from that internship is that I didn’t want to be the next Katie Couric — the news doesn’t stop; the news doesn’t work 9 to 5 — but I did have this passion for the television business overall,” she said.

After a year touring Asia, she landed a job in international marketing with Turner International in Hong Kong before moving back to the headquarters in Atlanta. After that, McAvoy was director of affiliate marketing at Oxygen Media and senior manager of affiliate marketing for MTV. She then moved to Comcast Spotlight, where was director of corporate marketing, managing the company’s advertising agency, Cramer-Krasselt, and developing and creating consumer ad campaigns, on-air spots, direct mail campaigns and sales videos.

After years of corporate busyness, she left to forge out on her own. “I freelanced at a few different places. I got married during that time,” said McAvoy, who celebrates her 10-year anniversary this summer. The couple has 7-year-old twins. “It was a nice break from the full-time capacity that I had been operating at that point in my career. It got me in a place where I was really clear about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.”

A few months at Bravo helped solidify her decision. “That was the very beginning of Real Housewives; it was the first year, Top Chef was on fire and the beginning of branded entertainment and integrations,” she remembers. “That time spent at Bravo — seeing how the upfront and the ad sales worked — got me ready to come here.”

Said Abbott: “I could see right out of the gate that she was a star and was going to be with us for a very long time.”

‘HALL OF FAME’ WORK

Recently, McAvoy worked on the “brand refresh” for the 65th anniversary of the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie franchise. “That was almost like a rebrand in and of itself,” she said. Its most recent film, Love Locks, aired this month starring real-life couple Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell. McAvoy also led the ad campaign featuring Glenn Close as the voice for Hallmark Hall of Fame. “There are some other projects that Crown Media has in the works,” McAvoy said, “so there will definitely be more of the Hallmark brand out there in the press.”

And keeping Hallmark’s entertainment brand identity strong with viewers — whether via linear or streaming service — will continue to be McAvoy’s priority. “Strong network brands will potentially be in a more powerful position given all of the fragmentation because people are going to consume their content one way or another,” she said, “and they’re going to want know exactly what they’re going to get.”

JAMIE POWER

TITLE: Managing Partner

COMPANY: Modi Media

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: As the leader of Modi’s targeted television practice, Power uses data in new ways to advance consumer targeting for advertisers. Her career in strategic media planning with GroupM and TouchTunes prepared her to help launch Modi as a unit of GroupM in 2014.

QUOTABLE: “Ask as many questions as possible … the only way you’re going to learn is if you continue to question everything. With the business that we do I always want to streamline, make it more effective. So if I get a ‘no,’ I generally don’t just accept it, I want to understand if it’s ‘cannot’ or ‘will not’ so we can figure out a way to make it possible.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Things move fast in Jamie Power’s world, and she keeps pushing the young medium of addressable television to be smarter, faster and better. Power was on the three-person team that launched Modi Media in 2014 as a unit of advertising giant GroupM. The new organization was created to bring the potential of digital TV to advertisers, enabling greater targeting and engagement than had previously been possible. Modi draws on consumer data to create campaigns that serve tailored ads to select households via addressable set-top boxes. More than half of U.S. households are now addressable and growth continues.

HITTING ADVERTISER TARGETS

The deployment of addressability is accompanied by an explosion of ever more granular data. Initially, targeted television advertising was used to sell big-ticket items like luxury cars to high-income viewers. Today, Power uses the tool to sell a much wider range of products. “I think what’s been most exciting is in the last couple of years we’ve been able to work with different data sets to take [targeted television] beyond the categories that everybody thinks about. If I want to go after people who suffer with heart conditions, I can do that now. We can use credit-card data to go after heavy movie ticket users. There really isn’t any advertiser it doesn’t work for, and I think why we’re successful is because we’re creative — there really is a solution for any advertiser, it’s just thinking about the way to put the data together,” Power said.

Even when addressability is fully deployed, Power doesn’t expect Modi’s brand of targeted advertising to replace mass-media campaigns. Broad approaches will still be needed to build awareness. Addressable technology adds a powerful arrow to the media planner’s quiver, one whose results can be accurately measured. The value of the service to advertisers makes it important to multichannel video providers, as well.

Altice Media Solutions uses set-top technology as part of its value proposition, according to unit president Ed Renicker. He said Power’s talent at building a business case for advertisers “has brought in new clientele to our market and a far different approach, both qualitative as well as quantitative, that perhaps they haven’t thought of or used in the past.” Renicker said Power “really gets not just where the business is, but where it’s going. She sees it in a more visionary way.”

Power’s vision includes consumer benefits. “It’s about serving more relevant content to the consumer,” she said. “If you don’t have heart disease, you probably don’t need to see an ad for medicine at that time. Down the road, looking at things like skinny bundles, if content on the television is more relevant to the consumer, there’s no reason ads shouldn’t be more relevant as well.”

The confluence of data and technology was a natural destination for Power, who set her sights on advertising in college. Interviewing at both creative and media agencies, she was drawn to the media side of the business.

An early mentor gave Power two rules to live by: write everything down and volunteer for everything. She took the advice to heart. As a 23-year-old media planner with GroupM, she noticed the company’s planning toolkit on her boss’s desk one day and asked to borrow it.

“I taught myself every single tool, and every time a new pitch would come up, I’d just volunteer,” she recalled. Late nights and working weekends paid off. “All I was doing was the tactical tools, but it got me in a place where I could listen and learn” from senior executives.

Power applied the knowledge she gained to her work for such clients as LG Electronics and Pizza Hut. At 25, she made partner.

After four and a half years with GroupM, Power seized a new opportunity with Touchtunes, a “digital jukebox company that was making $400 million in revenue just from people putting money in jukeboxes.” As VP of advertising sales and marketing, Power’s mission was to build an ad model for the company. The work built up her knowledge of digital advertising.

In 2013, GroupM began laying the groundwork for Modi Media, with Michael Bologna at the helm as president. Bologna had worked with Power before, and hired her to help get the new business started.

“It was by far the best decision that I made,” he said. “She’s an incredibly hard worker; she’s an incredibly quick study. She’s helped develop Modi from essentially nothing all the way to a profitable business.”

UNAFRAID TO ASK ADVICE

Building on her knowledge of television, digital technology and product development, Power took advantage of every opportunity to ask colleagues for advice on the new business. “I was so fortunate to be able to learn from the best folks in the industry,” she said. Modi has grown 100% year over year since its January 2014 launch, the company said.

It is an indication of Power’s competence and drive that she sees nothing remarkable in the fact that she gestated two enormous projects at the same time: Modi launched just two months after her son was born. A lesser mortal might be daunted by that level of multitasking, but Power took it in stride.

“When you’re being a mom,” she said, “you just power through and get it done. And [Modi] was such an exciting opportunity. When my son was feeding, I’d just open up a spreadsheet. It was actually good timing.”

Power credits her mother as a model. “My brother was 2, I was 3 and my sister was 5. Her attitude was, ‘With a little bit of work ethic and some humor, anything’s possible.’ Just do it.”

MYRNA SOTO

TITLE: Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer

COMPANY: Comcast Corp.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Prior to joining Comcast, Soto held key information and security roles at MGM Resorts International, American Express, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Kemper Insurance. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, a Master of Science degree in Industrial Psychology, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Nova Southeastern University, as well as a Masters Certification in Project Management from George Washington University.

QUOTABLE: “You’re never done. You’re constantly tuning and constantly adding more things that you could protect or monitor or respond to.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

Myrna Soto has been ensconced in high-level technology and cybersecurity circles for more than 25 years, but her successful career track wasn’t blazed in that direction by design, at least early on.

“The reality is that my interest in technology and security were both a little by accident,” Soto said. “They were not my prescribed educational tracks.”

But those tracks eventually led Soto to where she is today, serving in the important role at Comcast in which she’s not just in charge of protecting Comcast’s cable business, but all facets of the company, including NBCUniversal, Comcast Spectacor and Comcast Platform Services.

The knowledge, expertise and skill set Soto has accumulated during her career have enabled her to serve in leading roles across several different and diverse industries, including financial services, travel, hospitality/gaming and, now, for cable, media and entertainment at Comcast.

Soto’s leadership at Comcast — in her day-to-day role there as well as with other organizations within the company — is a key reason why Multichannel News is recognizing her in this year’s class of Wonder Women.

‘A FANTASTIC LEADER’

“Myrna is highly deserving of this honor,” Michael Cavanagh, senior executive VP and chief financial officer at Comcast, said. “She is a fantastic leader and has made significant contributions to Comcast, the industry, and the information security and technology community.”

Soto joined Comcast in 2009, initially focused on the company’s cable business. Her scope of responsibility has since broadened to include developing and implementing cyber security, network/infrastructure, and data security strategies that span Comcast.

It’s been Soto’s ability and desire to speak up, to learn and to pursue new challenges that have been the hallmarks of a career that didn’t initially focus on technology and security.

Soto’s college education centered on psychology and organizational psychology (the study of how psychology is applied to workplace issues), alongside an MBA focused on what was then referred to as management information systems.

That helped to set the stage for the early part of Soto’s career, when she ran a call center for a cruise line. Back then, cruise line companies had “underinvested in technology,” as they were instead laser-focused on other things like building ships alongside a “get it done” attitude with respect to getting customers ticketed and on board, she recalled.

That setup made it tough for Soto to achieve all of her goals without adding automation to the mix. “So I did something that I don’t advise my mentees to do today. … I was a really big, squeaky wheel about the need for technology,” she said.

Soto advocated strongly for new technologies and procedures that, she believed, would enable the call center to become more efficient and make significant contributions to the overall business.

The company gave her an opportunity, providing Soto support to manage a project on her own, but without much help from the company’s IT team. Soto then reached out to some partners who were pitching ideas to her, resulting in a small proof of concept for an interactive voice response (IVR) system that made way for more (and bigger) initiatives.

And, like technology and IT, her entry point into the world of cybersecurity came by way of an opportunity. When Soto later joined MGM Mirage, she was convinced by the CIO at the time to shift her responsibilities from software-enablement and other revenue-producing projects to those centered on cybersecurity.

Though Soto was a bit reluctant to take on such a specialized role, being urged to enter a new field and to run that team “was the best thing that ever happened in my career,”

Soto said. Soto said it’s a special challenge to keep Comcast’s businesses safe while also staying a step ahead of potential adversaries that have access to a broadening set of tools and techniques.

“There are things we are paying attention to that are happening out there in the greater world that may not necessarily look and feel like a concern for Comcast,” she said.

Cybersecurity, she explained, is more art than science in some ways. “It is an art, but it is an art that’s backed up with good data and a good understanding of your capabilities.”

Soto is also a leader in other ways at Comcast. For example, she’s an executive champion for Unidos, an affinity group focused on the company’s Hispanic employee base.

“There was an immediate gravitation for me to be part of Unidos because it represents our goals around diversity and opening up for people of diverse backgrounds, and an opportunity to build, mature and develop our Hispanic employee base into upper levels of the organization,” she said.

PINING FOR A VINEYARD

When Soto isn’t protecting Comcast from hackers, you might find her on the links, as golf is her number one interest outside of work. Her handicap’s been a “steady 13” for years.

She’s also a wine enthusiast — down to studying the wide array of regions and the wine-making process — and admits to having visions of retiring and running a vineyard.

“I’ll probably never do that because I’ll be bankrupt … because I’d drink all the profits,” she joked.

Among other passions, she’s also a self-proclaimed politico. And keeping tabs on that fiery arena is also a good fit with her career, given that security is so heavily regulated.

Though there’s been significant improvement in recent years, engineering and technology remains a male-dominated field. As a role model for other women who are interested in that sector, Soto’s advice is this: “Really stretch yourself … and take some big risks.”

Women, she said, should not automatically feel intimidated about a tech-facing career. “Don’t limit yourself,” Soto explained. “Sometimes it’s not a straight line. Sometimes it’s about getting into a business area that has a technology spin to it.”

LINDA SCHUPACK

TITLE: Executive Vice President of Marketing

COMPANY: AMC and SundanceTV

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Started in TV at Children’s Television Workshop; held senior posts at Nickelodeon, including VP of marketing and programming for Nickelodeon International; served as senior VP, creative services at Rainbow Media Holdings (now AMC Networks).

QUOTABLE: “We feel very privileged to work on the shows that we’re working on, but these shows set a very high bar for us. We really want our marketing materials to be as distinctive as the shows themselves.”

Read More >Celebrating Media's Influential Women: The 'MCN' Wonder Women Class of 2017|Meet 2017's 12 'MCN' Women to Watch|The 'MCN' Wonder Women Online Archive

The TV shows that Linda Schupack markets for AMC have not exactly been easy sells, at least at the start. The eclectic programming has chronicled internal drama at a 1960s ad agency, a desperate teacher’s transformation into a vicious drug lord and a zombie apocalypse.

But Schupack, executive vice president of marketing for AMC and SundanceTV, said that challenges like finding ways to promote Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are “the nature of the beast” of her job.

“I am never bored,” she said.

MARKETING MAVEN

There’s little doubt Schupack’s marketing savvy helped make those three AMC original dramas and other shows, such as Better Call Saul, major successes with both critics and audiences. In fact, through her work Schupack has helped herald what some journalists and executives claim is a new Golden Age of Television, marked by compelling, literate writing and complex, character-driven storytelling.

Schupack has played a critical role in AMC’s transformation from a commercial-free classic movie channel to an ad-supported leader in original programming, said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios, all part of AMC Networks.

“Linda has spearheaded the development of iconic consumer marketing campaigns that have helped AMC achieve all-time highs, as well as securing AMC’s spot in the lexicon of pop culture,” Collier said. “Her work impacts daily conversation and has helped AMC make television history.”

Collier cited The Walking Dead for breaking ratings benchmarks not only for basic cable but for all of TV, and AMC is the only cable network ever to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row for Mad Men.

Writer-producer Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of Breaking Bad, gives Schupack a “great deal of credit for the success” of that dark drama.

“She worked her butt off to make people excited about a middle-aged drug dealer who drove a puke-green Pontiac Aztek,” he said. “If that’s not the sales job of the century, I don’t know what is!”

In her current role, Schupack is responsible for the management and implementation of brand identities; consumer, trade and digital marketing activities: and social media for AMC and SundanceTV.

She has been running marketing at AMC since 2005 and was promoted to executive vice president in 2012, assuming responsibility for marketing SundanceTV in 2015.

Schupack, who was an English major at Yale University, said that her love of books and writing dovetails nicely with her career at AMC.

“From my perspective, a lot of our shows are like literature,” she said.

Schupack entered the TV industry via her first job, which was at the Children’s Television Workshop. She moved on and held several senior positions at Nickelodeon, including vice president of marketing and programming for Nickelodeon International.

Schupack later came to AMC’s parent, then called Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, for four years as senior vice president of creative services, working on the evolution of the AMC, IFC and WE tv brands.

She said she “gravitated” toward marketing at Nickelodeon because of her fascination with consumer motivation, returning to Yale to get a master’s in business administration.

“Yale gave me a great framework for analysis and I think it is that way of thinking — being a bridge between creative and the business — that is really foundational to my job,” she said.

AMC’s and Schupack’s approach has been to work closely with show writers and producers to carefully craft the marketing for a TV series, whether for a program’s debut or its returning seasons.

“What is so singular about our shows is our creators’ vision, and we want to understand it as deeply as we can,” she said. “Our challenge is to translate or to execute against that; to develop a plan or creative materials that connect that show to an audience; and to do it in such a way that resonates with that audience, that is relevant and that is provocative to that audience.”

Gilligan, who is also co-showrunner for Better Call Saul, lauded Schupack for taking this collaborative approach, one he said worked well for launching Breaking Bad.

“Our biggest fear was that potential viewers might assume we were glorifying meth and meth dealers,” he said. “That would have been a disaster for us. Therefore, Linda and her team had quite a needle to thread. They had to create a nuanced campaign which spoke to the quality of the show’s storytelling and hinted at its quirky, leavening humor — but which also made clear that its heart was in the right place, so to speak.”

CREATIVE INPUT

This type of process at AMC, teaming up with showrunners on marketing, started with Mad Men and its creator, Matt Weiner, with conversations about the themes of that acclaimed drama, according to Schupack.

Gilligan said that in his experience, it is unusual for a network to work so closely with a showrunner on a program’s promotion.

“On most other movies and TV series I’ve had a hand in, I’ve never even met the folks in the marketing department,” he said. “Linda and AMC do things differently, to their everlasting credit.”

Schupack carefully devised tactics and strategies to salute the creators of Mad Men and Breaking Bad as those shows came to their end, according to Collier.

“Thanks to Linda and her teams, literally and figuratively, each of these programs ended up in the Smithsonian,” Collier said. “That is how big-thinking, how thoughtful and how effective Linda Schupack is: Archie Bunker’s chair; Dorothy’s ruby red slippers; Don Draper’s fedora; Heisenberg’s yellow Hazmat suit; Schupack’s genius.”

JANA BENNETT

TITLE: President and General Manager

COMPANY: History

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Has brought viewers everything from Escaping Polygamy to Sherlock. Successfully relaunched A+E Networks’ Bio channel as FYI and reprogrammed sibling movie network LMN. Oversaw A+E’s multichannel roadblock airing of Roots and is now leading History into high-profile documentaries and scripted series. Honored by Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to science broadcasting at BBC.

QUOTABLE: “[Finding hit shows] is just about having your antennae out about the way people are living their lives. You just have to keep tapping into different interests and not just think about what we’ve already done, that’s already been consumed. Audiences want to be surprised.”

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When Jana Bennett started her first stint as a U.S. cable executive in 1999, her mission was to lead Discovery-owned TLC into the then-new world of reality programming with the motto “Life Unscripted.”

Now that she has returned to New York after more than a decade as a top BBC executive, Bennett is leading A+E Networks-owned History in just the opposite direction: toward documentaries and scripted series that are defining the current era of “peak TV.’’

A journalist-turned-executive, Bennett has overseen a lengthy string of successful programs, from Trading Spaces for TLC to Walking With Dinosaurs and Doctor Who for the BBC, to Roots and Vikings for History. In 2013, she reinvented A+E’s Bio channel as FYI and pushed it and sibling LMN to double-digit ratings growth in her first year.

“Jana is an accomplished executive with an enviable track record of success. She possesses the rare combination of creative and business acumen that every business leader should strive for,” Paul Buccieri, president of A+E Studios and A+E Networks Portfolio Group, said.

ROSE THE RANKS AT BBC

Before and after her stint at Discovery, Bennett spent what many people would consider a full career in the U.K. at the BBC. She started as a trainee after college and rose to be the top content executive for the publicly funded and regulated television provider. Bennett oversaw six networks, including two children’s networks she introduced and BBC’s digital iPlayer service.

She also ran BBC Worldwide, the broadcaster’s commercial arm, from 2010 to 2012. She has even received an Order of the British Empire award from Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to science broadcasting.

That makes her sound thoroughly British — but Bennett actually is a Yank, born in Cooperstown, N.Y. Her educator parents moved the family to England just as Bennett became a teenager, so she went to high school there and then attended Oxford.

At first, she said, she was a “fish out of water’’ who never lost her American accent. But that turned out to be a useful perspective. “In my career that’s been true in moving companies or organizations or subject areas. I guess it helped me take a slightly oblique, sideways look at what I’m doing.”

She spent three years away from the BBC when she took over TLC in 1999. “I’d never run a channel, never worked as an adult in the U.S.,’’ she said. “I thrive by the cha l lenge of something being new and different.”

By the time she returned to New York in 2013 to launch FYI and oversee LMN, the reality and semi-scripted shows on U.S. cable networks had proliferated to the point of “things being a bit same-y,’’ she said. At FYI, she and programming head Gena McCarthy added “tiny house” shows and Married at First Sight.

Now, Bennett is not only putting “the history back in History,’’ as she has said, but broadening its offerings to include more recent events, such as Six, the scripted series based on the Navy SEAL team that captured Osama bin Laden, and timely interpretations, such as The Black Man’s Guide to History starring Kevin Hart.

Viewers want true stories, she said — regardless of whether the national political conversation is in a “post-fact” era. “There’s almost a craving for those essential stories. … The pace of change that people feel they’re experiencing right now, as we’re in a true technological revolution, makes you hanker after stories that tell you how we got here right now.’’

“History itself and History as a brand is a very powerful storytelling platform where there’s an infinite variety of stories to be told,” Bennett said. “The great thing about History as a brand is that it’s very trusted. … I think it’s a huge strength and a huge responsibility.”

Viewers are also responding to the skyrocketing standard for scripted dramas, born out of intense competition among cable and streaming networks, and the more prominent platform that streaming services give documentaries. “The special treatment of big documentary stories has made them have even more [appeal]. Instead of being ‘duty programing,’ as we might have called it 10 years ago, it’s vying with drama for epic big stories.”

She credited mentors both formal and informal for helping her steady ascent at the BBC and A+E. The informal network is a group of women journalists she has known since her days as a trainee, and with whom she still shares a regular “GNO” — girls’ night out — in London.

Early in her career, she recalled, she almost didn’t pursue the job of head of BBC science programming because she was about to have a second child. Luckily, she said, someone urged her on and she would give the same advice: “Just go for it. All the other things you’re worried about will get solved.”

Now that second baby, a son named Skomer (appropriately enough, it’s a Viking name), is 22 and a student at the University of Vermont. Alexandra, 25, works for a consumer research company in London. Bennett lives in Brooklyn, near the iconic bridge, with her husband, producer and former BBC executive Richard Clemmow, “a Brit who loves adventure.’’

HISTORY PASSION CAME EARLY

For fun, the amateur guitarist and singer takes in folk music at the nearby Jalopy Theater. And then there’s the thrill of American “big weather,” whether it’s near-hurricane winds or a blast of sunshine.

She began to fall in love with history as a child home sick from school — and as one of five sisters, enjoying the rare occasion of having her mother all to herself. She remembers her mother, a history teacher, reading books aloud with her about the California redwoods and the Egyptian pyramids. “That instilled in my bones a love of history and also a love of the international, the world at large.”

Several decades after that, Bennett and her mother, then 83, found themselves visiting Egypt during the Arab Spring protests. The melee in Tahrir Square led to looting and damage at the national archaeological museum, but the two women fought their way in regardless.

“Things that are interesting are worth fighting to discover,’’ Bennett said. “That was one of the things that has always motivated me. The media gives you great rewards if you remain curious.”