Kathryn Oakes, an operations manager for Cox Communications in Phoenix, has been named the most recent recipient of the Catherine Oakes Memorial Leadership Scholarship for Women.

The SCTE Foundation created the scholarship in 2013 to honor Catherine Oakes, the long-time SCTE executive who died suddenly on Nov. 16, 2013. 

RELATED: SCTE IDs First Catherine Oakes Scholarship Recipient

As the most recent scholarship honoree, Kathryn Oakes, who is no relation to the award’s namesake, was been awarded a grant of $3,500 to attend the WICT 2017 Rising Leaders Program for industry professionals at the manager or director level who have demonstrated their potential and their desire for leadership and career advancement.

Kathryn Oakes joined Cox as a residential services supervisor in 2003 and has served as an operations manager for the company’s business services unit for the past nine years.  Oakes leads a team of more than 30 employees and is a multiple winner of Cox’s Circle of Excellence Award.  An active member of WICT for the past eight years, she served two years as programming chair of WICT’s Southwest Chapter and currently is chapter president.  She received the Lucille Larkin Fellowship Award in 2014 for her contributions to the industry.

“Kathy holds her team accountable to metrics that allow us to exceed our customers’ expectations,” wrote Gayle Porterfield, director of operations for Cox Business Arizona, in a recommendation letter.  “She is respected among her peers and often volunteers to take on additional projects and assignments.  She’s implemented several process improvements that have saved our company thousands of dollars while simultaneously improving efficiencies. She holds her team and herself to the highest standards.”

“I enjoy learning about the technical aspect of our business,” said Oakes in her application.  “Attending the Rising Leaders Program will provide me new tools in my tool belt.  Winning this scholarship will help me to improve upon my technical knowledge of the telecom industry. Combining this essential knowledge with my current skill set will allow me to take the next step in my career.”

Kathryn Oakes’ scholarship application was among the submissions that were reviewed by past recipients of the Women in Technology Award, which is presented annually by the SCTE/ISBE, Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), and Cablefax.

The SCTE Foundation said it is accepting applications for the Catherine Oakes Memorial Leadership Scholarship for Women, which was created to honor the former SCTE SVP of operations who died in November 2013 and is awarded annually to provide educational opportunities for women “who aspire to become leaders in cable engineering or operations.”

The SCTE Foundation said it will award the grant of $3,500 to be used toward registration in an industry leadership development or executive education program, such as the SCTE/ISBE Leadership Institute at Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth or the SCTE/ISBE Leadership Institute at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.

Women applying for the scholarship must be members of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers or its global brand, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE).  The application deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.

Applications will be reviewed by past recipients of the Women in Technology Award. More detail about the program can be found here.

The inaugural recipient was Jeanie Warfield, product manager, video solutions for Time Warner Cable Business Class.

Jeanie Warfield, product manager, video solutions for Time Warner Cable Business Class, has been named the first recipient of the Catherine Oakes Memorial Leadership Scholarship for Women, the SCTE Foundation announced Thursday.

The SCTE Foundation created the scholarship last year to honor Catherine Oakes, the long-time SCTE executive who died suddenly on Nov. 16, 2013. SCTE started to accept applications for the scholarship in March.

SCTE said Warfield (pictured above), who is based in Time Warner Cable’s Akron, Ohio, location, has been awarded a grant of $3,700 to attend the WICT Leadership Conference that will be held Sept. 15-16 in New York City by Women in Cable Telecommunications. 

A 15-year veteran of the cable telecommunications industry, Warfield has been credited with incubating a successful Internet residential product, integrating it into the larger marketing product set and executing such innovative programs as speed test trials, modem recovery, HSD single-play campaigns and the launch of Turbo Internet speeds. 

S/he has also led local project management leadership for the channel line-up integration and redesign following Time Warner Cable’s acquisition of Adelphia systems. Her contributions included: simplification of the product offering into mini-tiers; standardization of naming and categorization of channels into genres; and internal and external communication of the changes.

“Jeanie enjoys sharing her wealth of knowledge and is a true product champion,” wrote James T.C. Moore, director, video product management for Time Warner Cable Business Class, in a recommendation letter. “She is always cheerful and well organized and brings an enthusiasm and purpose to every meeting. She has been able to assist in not only product management but also in product integration across a variety of products. Part of her success is her ability to train sales and care team members on complex products but in a simplified manner.”

The Catherine Oakes scholarship is funded entirely by donations earmarked specifically in her name.