The unveiling of the 2024 AIM/PAR Workplace Diversity Study highlights the annual Diversity Week of gatherings recognizing diversity and inclusion efforts within the media and entertainment industries. 

The week of events begins October 21 with the WICT Network Leadership Conference, followed by the October 22 NAMIC Conference and the October 23 Kaitz Dinner, now under the auspices of the NCTA Educational Foundation (formerly the Walter Kaitz Foundation).

WICT and NAMIC will once again team to offer the latest AIM/PAR Workplace Survey, a biennial report on the current state of ethnic and gender diversity within the media and entertainment industry. Industry executives hope the new survey will surpass the results from the 2022 report, which showed major gains for women in the workforce but a decline in the share of people of color employed compared to 2019. (The 2022 survey was delayed a year due to the pandemic.)

“It’s going to be fascinating to see how the industry fared in terms of women and people of color,” WICT Network president and CEO Maria E. Brennan said. “Depending on what kind of company you keep there’s either a stronger commitment than ever to diversity, or one that looks at DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) as some sort of entitlement program where it personifies the complete misunderstanding of what diversity and inclusion means for everyone across the board.”

NAMIC president Shuanise Washington also hopes this year’s survey will show an improvement. “Those companies who are absolutely committed to diversity see an ROI (return on investment) in terms of better outcomes and better business results, as well as positive work environments and work cultures in those companies,” she said. “Those efforts hopefully will continue to grow despite the tangential conversations that will be taking place to some degree.” 

WICT, NAMIC Set To Gather

The two-day WICT Network Leadership Conference & Touchstones Luncheon kicks off Diversity Week October 21 under the theme “Fuel­ing Your Power and Purpose,” and will focus on the leadership qualities and the importance of fostering an inclusive workforce culture.

The Touchstones Luncheon will honor its 2024 Women of the Year winners Amy Blair, Liberty Global chief people officer; Johnita Due, CNN Worldwide executive VP, integrity and inclusion; and Sandy Howe, ATX Networks board director. The organization will also honor three Women to Watch during the luncheon: Charter Communications head of operations, sales and marketing Julie Unruh; AMC Networks executive VP, linear and streaming products Courtney Thomasma; and Amazon Web Services Global director of solutions architecture for media & entertainment, games and sports Steph Lone. 

MSNBC president Rashida Jones is honorary chair of the NAMIC Conference, set for October 22-23. “We are honored to have Rashida Jones as this year’s honorary chair,” Washington said. “Her leadership and vision are transforming the media landscape, setting new standards for excellence and inclusion.”

Essence Ventures CEO Caroline Wanga will keynote NAMIC’s 38th annual conference. Washington said the conference’s theme, “Diverse Voices! Defining the Future …,” will focus not only on empowering diverse voices not only within the industry, but exploring potential partnerships with tangential companies.

“This year’s conference embodies a pivotal moment of change and progress as we navigate and shape the future of our industry together, ” Washington added. 

“Do Good. Be Better. Impact Tomorrow.” is the theme for the October 23 Kaitz Dinner diversity fundraising event. The dinner is the first since the Walter Kaitz Foundation was fully integrated into the NCTA Education Foundation in May. The NCTA Education Foundation is dedicated to leveraging the industry’s positive impact on communities, NCTA said. 

The NCTA Education Foundation will continue the former Kaitz Foundation’s grant-making programs and support for legacy industry organizations and efforts, according to NCTA. 

The Kaitz Dinner will honor two ChangeMakers “who have made a significant impact and resonance around diversity and inclusion in our industry over the last year,” said the organization. Comcast NBCUniversal is the Ambassador Sponsor, with Charter Communications the Champion Sponsor. 

Last year’s 40th anniversary Kaitz fundraising dinner raised more than $1.1 million toward the media and connectivity industry’s DEI efforts. 

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications honored its 2023 Annual Awards recipients during the 37th Annual NAMIC Conference in New York on September 20. This year’s theme — “Our Legacy, A Mosaic of Possibilites” — honored NAMIC’s efforts to empower diversity, equity, access and inclusion in the media, entertainment, and technology industries, as embodied by the recipient of each award.

The event was part of the annual Diversity Week series of events in New York, which also includes the WICT Network Leadership Conference and the Walter Kaitz Foundation Annual Fundraising Dinner. 

Among those honored were the Next Generation Awards winners, NAMIC’s top honor recognizing the best of the best. These four honorees have distinguished themselves as thought leaders, trendsetters and change agents who embody NAMIC’s mission and have actively worked to advance multiethnic diversity by educating, advocating, and empowering people and organizations.

The 2023 Next Generation Leaders are:

• Chara-Lynn Aguiar, Senior VP, Strategy & Office of the Chairman, ESPN
• Catherine Mitchell, Senior VP, Product Development and Management, Cox Communications
• Puru Patnekar, Group VP, Marketing Planning and Operations, Charter Communications
• Valerie Spiller, Senior VP, Production Finance, A+E Networks

The Luminary Awards recognize up-and-coming leaders who show the most potential to become tomorrow’s movers and shakers. They are rising industry figures who demonstrate strong leadership skills and embrace NAMIC’s mission of working to advance multiethnic diversity.

The 2023 Luminaries are:

• Heather Anderson, VP, Programs and Acquisitions, ESPN
• Marcus Best, Senior VP, Allied Multicultural, Allied Global Marketing
• DeAdria Wright Davis, VP, Customer Service, Charter Communications
• Mark Leon Guerrero, VP, Inbound Retention and Sales, Charter Communications
• Ileana Lagares, VP, Multicultural Marketing, HBO and Max, Warner Bros. Discovery
• Kevin Martinez, VP, Corporate Citizenship, ESPN
• LaRawn Robinson, VP, Inside Plant Network Operations, Charter Communications
• Trent Taylor, VP, Market Analysis, Charter Communications

In addition to the Leaders and Luminaries, the awards luncheon recognized the 2023 Diversity in Technology Award winner, Mark Walker, head of sports business development & innovation at ESPN. The Diversity in Technology Award, presented in partnership with the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and Multichannel News, recognizes a leader of diverse ethnicity or race who has contributed to the advancement of digital innovation, customer experience, connectedness, digital infrastructure, operations, or intelligence in the media, entertainment, and tech industries.

Also recognized at the luncheon was the 2023 Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award winner, José Díaz-Balart, anchor of Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC’s José Díaz Balart Reports and NBC Nightly News Saturday.

For more on this year’s Next Generation Leaders, Luminaries and the Diversity in Technology Award winner, please read the following profiles. 

Next Generation Leaders

Chara-Lynn Aguiar
Senior VP, Strategy and Office of the Chairman
ESPN

In June 2021, Chara-Lynn Aguiar was promoted to her current role at ESPN, and this year she added research to her purview. She oversees integrated strategy efforts across all aspects of ESPN’s business as well as the research department. She serves as an adviser to chairman Jimmy Pitaro and his direct reports to provide insight and manage a wide variety of internal and external relationships. With varied experiences covering measurement, distribution, digital and content strategy, the New York-based Aguiar serves as a key partner across ESPN and The Walt Disney Co. leadership.  

Aguiar began her career at ABC in 2009 as a research analyst before transitioning in 2011 to the global distribution strategy group for Disney & ESPN Media Networks. She then moved to YouTube in 2015, working in content partnerships, and to Fox Sports, where she was VP, strategy and content from October 2015 to February 2018 before returning to ESPN that March.  

A Daly City, California, native, Aguiar graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in economics and international and area studies. 

“I’m truly honored and humbled to have received this award from NAMIC and to be honored with such an esteemed group,” Aguiar said. “I’m very thankful for everything this organization does to advance the incredibly important work of diversity, equity and inclusion within our industry.”

Catherine Mitchell
Senior VP, Product Development and Management
Cox Communications

Catherine Mitchell has earned a reputation as a difference-maker in the telecommunications industry by taking on some of Cox’s toughest challenges and delivering transformation. She leads innovation, development and management across the company’s product portfolio. 

She joined the cable operator in 2000 as VP and general manager of the Roanoke, Virginia, market and continued to support growth and innovation at Cox through operations and product development roles. The course of her career began at companies such as Scientific Atlanta and IBM. 

Mitchell earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tufts University. She is a WICT Betsy Magness Leadership Institute fellow. She is also a graduate of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program and a 2010 recipient of the NAMIC Luminary Award. She also serves on The Episcopal School of Jacksonville board.

“Being part of the NAMIC community gives a voice and an empowerment to be unapologetically Black,” Mitchell said. “I am privileged to be recognized by this inspiring community of great leaders and friends that have encouraged me throughout the years.”

Puru Patnekar
Group VP, Marketing Planning and Operations
Charter Communications

Puru Patnekar leads a team of marketing and analytics professionals with a focus on customer acquisition and retention. Over the past decade at Charter, he has held leadership posts across financial planning, sales and marketing. In each of these roles, he advocated for business needs while building teams with individuals from diverse backgrounds with multiple skill sets and the ability to work together towards a common goal. 

Patnekar is a champion of Charter’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategy. Using a combination of D&I principles and mentorship, many of his team members have seen their aspirations grow and careers develop. He strives to maintain a culture of open communications, rooted in respect and collaboration, that supports the business at the highest level. 

As a first-generation immigrant and now a proud U.S. citizen, Patnekar has been educated and has worked both in India and the U.S. These experiences have been formative in his outlook and leadership attributes. He is an alumnus of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program. 

“To me, diversity and inclusion means everyone has access to opportunities and can contribute at their highest potential,” Patnekar said. “In my association with NAMIC, especially through the Executive Leadership Development Program, I’ve learned that the organization cultivates ambition and passion toward achieving success. Being named a NAMIC Next Generation leader is a tremendous honor and makes me even more aware of my responsibilities to create opportunities for others.”

Valerie Spiller
Senior VP, Production Finance
A+E Networks

Valerie Spiller is responsible for cost management, financial planning, analysis, tax incentives and financial reporting for scripted series and movies of the week for A+E Studios and Lifetime Production. Her responsibilities extend to collaborating with numerous business segments and leaders within A+E Networks, fostering and promoting a culture that includes distinguished brands such as A&E, History Channel, Crime + Investigation, H2, Blaze, Lifetime, LMN, FYI and History.

As a member of the senior management team, Spiller spearheads numerous progressive initiatives, effectively championing A+E's diversity and inclusion directives. These initiatives are consistent with the company’s mission to be a pioneer in the human experience. Among these initiatives are Diversity Behind the Camera, the Diverse Supplier Initiative, and the Multicultural Advisory Council (MAC), where she fervently advocates and sponsors diversity across the company.

“NAMIC has been committed for the past 43 years to empowering diversity in the communications industry and to be recognized with their Next Generation Leaders Award is truly an honor,” Spiller said. “I am humbled, inspired and remain committed to championing inclusion and positive change in the media landscape. Words can’t express my gratitude enough.”

Luminaries

Heather Anderson
VP, Original Content and Business Affairs
ESPN 

Heather Anderson, an entertainment and technology attorney for 25 years, joined ESPN as VP, programming and acquisitions to assist with its sports betting strategy. She was also an ESPN lead for large, multisport opportunities and audience-expansion initiatives, including alternate presentations and programming for the Black Sports Business Symposium. 

Recently, Anderson transitioned to the ESPN content organization to lead business affairs and business operations for the original content team. In her new role, she will assist the creative teams that bring ESPN’s engaging content such as the 30 for 30 and In the Arena series, as well as ESPN Films.

Anderson came to ESPN from the Disney legal department, where she served for more than eight years as a digital media, marketing, production, product and technology attorney. She has been very active in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. 

“I am honored and humbled that an organization as influential as NAMIC supports my efforts to bring visibility and opportunity to supporting multiethnicity in our industry,” she said. “For 35 years, these efforts have been of utmost importance to me. I try to lead by example and leverage my voice in my sphere of influence — and none of that is possible without the reinforcement of organizations completely committed to the cause like NAMIC.”

Marcus Best
Senior VP, Allied Multicultural
Allied Global Marketing

Passionate and persistent are words that describe Marcus Best. Best heads Allied’s targeted division focused on publicity, marketing, digital and social media campaigns for major film studios, broadcast and cable networks as well as streaming platforms. Projects include Hulu's Aftershock, Prime Video’s Swarm, Peacock's Best Man: The Final Chapters, Focus Features’ A Thousand and One, Amazon Studios’ Air and Paramount's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Before joining Allied, Best worked in the music and cable industry at BET, Warner Records, Interscope, and Fuse TV. Best is actively involved in organizations and contributes annually to youth empowerment in his hometown of Washington D.C.

“I am incredibly honored and grateful to receive this award from NAMIC an organization that I admire so much,” Best said. “Being recognized for something that I am passionate about is a privilege. Thank you for championing me and other individuals who are curating and celebrating the brilliance of the multicultural landscape.“

DeAdria Wright Davis
VP, Customer Service
Charter Communications

DeAdria Wright-Davis is the dynamic VP of customer service operations for Charter’s Charlotte, North Carolina, market. With a rich professional journey spanning more than two decades, she possesses unparalleled expertise in operations, customer service, diversity and inclusion and employee development. Wright-Davis’s remarkable leadership extends across diverse sectors, including cable, telecommunications and finance.

An alumna of Columbia Southern University, she holds an MBA in Project Management. Beyond her corporate prowess, Wright-Davis is a trailblazing entrepreneur and a savvy real estate investor. She serves as a board member for a nonprofit youth Track and Field club in Johnston County, North Carolina, highlighting her commitment to community enrichment.

Amid her many roles, Wright-Davis is a devoted mother of three daughters and relishes quality time with her husband of 22 years. 

"Gratitude swells within me as I accept this incredible honor from NAMIC,” Wright Davis said. “Their unwavering dedication to celebrating diversity and fostering inclusivity mirrors a passion close to my heart. Together, we illuminate the path towards a more equitable industry, empowering voices and transforming lives. Thank you, NAMIC."

Mark Leon Guerrero
VP, Inbound Retention and Sales
Charter Communications

With a career spanning more than 24 years in the telecommunications industry, Mark Leon Guerrero oversees more than 2,000 employees in Charter’s revenue-critical customer retention call centers. He possesses extensive experience in sales strategy and training, business development, process improvement and in leading and mentoring high-performing teams. 

Guerrero is a strong advocate for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace to help bring together the best talent from among the broadest range of people, backgrounds, and perspectives. He currently serves as co-chair of Charter’s Sales, Marketing and Community Solutions D&I Council. Guerrero and his team are committed to driving diversity and inclusion strategy across the organization through inclusive leadership, mentoring, participation in Spectrum’s Business Resource Groups, and more.

He enjoys traveling, cooking, spending time with his family and the San Francisco Giants and 49ers. 

“Receiving the NAMIC Luminary award is truly an honor,” Guerrero said. “It is my goal to leave a legacy that inspires others to continue to advance diversity and inclusion in this industry. Thank you for this recognition of what we can accomplish when we push boundaries — we all have unlimited possibility.”

Ileana Lagares
VP, Multicultural Marketing, HBO and Max
Warner Bros. Discovery

Ileana Lagares is responsible for developing the strategy and execution of marketing campaigns across HBO and Max programming that reach multicultural audiences. For more a decade, Lagares has created high-impact, high-visibility campaigns for such programs as Game of Thrones, Watchmen and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

She launched “InsecureFest,” a multiseason activation that captured the zeitgeist for the award-winning HBO original series Insecure. For her campaign for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, she commissioned the creation of the only existing portrait of Henrietta Lacks, by Kadir Nelson, which was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. 

Lagares also leads evergreen marketing initiatives for Black and Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) audiences such as “Scene in Black,” a platform dedicated to authentically engaging Black audiences; and Our “Stories to Tell,” a pop-up activation during Sundance Film Festival that celebrates diverse creators and stories.

“It's an honor to be named a NAMIC Luminary and to be recognized as being a leader in our industry,” Lagares said. “Advocating for multicultural diversity and its importance is personally gratifying and it’s a privilege to create authentic, culture-first work. Congratulations to my fellow Luminaries. I’m grateful for this acknowledgement.”

Kevin Martinez
VP, Corporate Citizenship
ESPN

Kevin Martinez oversees ESPN’s citizenship initiatives, including corporate giving, volunteerism, cause marketing and sustainability. He is responsible for strategic programs that enable both greater access to sports and leadership through sports. 

He leads ESPN’s sponsorship of Special Olympics, which has helped more than 1.8 million athletes, teammates and coaches join the Unified Sports movement.

Martinez and his team have received numerous industry awards, including most recently Engage for Good’s The Golden Halo Award. He is a two-time winner of The Cause Marketing Forum’s highest award, The Halo Award, and has won a Gold CLIO Award, a Telly Award, the U.S. Chamber’s Award for Corporate Citizenship, the Association of Cable Communicators Beacon Award and the 2006 Large Corporation of the Year Award from the Corporation for National Community Service and Points of Light Institute.

A native of ‘Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Martinez graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and advertising.

“Throughout my career I have taken great pride in using the platforms I serve to advance multiethnic diversity — especially during my time at ESPN in our Access to Sports and Empowerment Through Sports programs as DEI is a company priority,” Martinez said. “It is a tremendous honor to have the responsibility to champion strategic CSR and diversity programs, and I am proud to be recognized as a recipient of the Luminary Award as part of the 37th Annual NAMIC Conference.”

LaRawn Robinson
VP, Inside Plant Network Operations
Charter Communications

LaRawn Robinson is responsible for the implementation, augmentation and maintenance of all network components and critical infrastructure in Charter’s New York City market area. His expertise lies in leading corporate development efforts, operational strategies and improvement initiatives to achieve defined goals.

Robinson demonstrates top-flight leadership and management talents while propelling corporate profitability and productivity through dynamic program management and communication. His team partners with network and field operations teams to deliver a world-class customer experience across all products and services in the market area.

Robinson joined Charter in 2019 with extensive technology and telecommunications experience. For more than 20 years, he worked in network and headend engineering at Altice USA and its predecessor company, Cablevision Systems. He’s also active in his community as a volunteer youth coach and mentor. 

Robinson has been happily married for 20-plus years to his high school sweetheart and is the father of three children. 

“As a proud member of ELDP Cohort XXI, I am truly humbled and honored to count myself among those who have been recognized by NAMIC for this honor,” he said. “I am not only honored to continue the mission of NAMIC, I remain motivated to make an impact in our industry that continues to open doors for others. Thank you!”

Trent Taylor
VP, Market Analysis
Charter Communications

Trent Taylor leads Spectrum Enterprise Market Analysis at Charter. His team uses advanced predictive analytics (machine learning) to inform strategic decisions on sales coverage and proactive network expansion, as well as develop targeted marketing lead lists. 

Taylor has a track record of monetizing investments in data and analytics by leading programs across boundary partners to optimize sales and operational execution. 

Prior to joining Charter’s predecessor company, Time Warner Cable, Taylor served as strategic marketing director at XO Communications where he led transformational projects utilizing predictive analytics to reduce churn rates by 1.0 pp. He holds an MBA from The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and has completed the Management Development Program and NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at Darden College of Business (University of Virginia) and the CTAM Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School.

“I am truly honored to be named a NAMIC Luminary in 2023,” Taylor said. “It is humbling to be in the company of current and past recipients of this recognition, given their impressive contributions to the industry and DEI initiatives. This has re-energized me to help others on their journey through mentorship.”

Diversity in Technology Award

Mark Walker
Head of Sports Business Development & Innovation
ESPN

Mark L. Walker joined ESPN in 2019 and leads the sports programmer’s business development center of excellence, with focus on driving sports media innovation in business, products and experiences.

In his role, Walker is responsible for driving ESPN Edge — a collaboration with other technology leaders to enable new ways for fans to experience sports — while leading ESPN’s strategic efforts in the sports betting space.

Walker brings a wealth of experience to the innovation and business development disciplines, having led all of product development, marketing, programming, content and operations for The Walt Disney Co.’s network of digital gateways, social-media presence and content-delivery apps.

Walker earned a JD from Stanford Law School, a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Additionally, he served as a member of the Media Arts and Sciences Visiting Committee for the MIT Media Laboratory.

“Winning this award is a testament to ESPN’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity. It’s not just an accolade; it’s a recognition of ESPN’s dedication to shaping a tech industry that embraces diversity,” Walker said. “This award fuels ESPN’s drive to create a world where innovation knows no boundaries.” 

Members of the content and connectivity industries gathered in New York during the week of September 18 for the annual Diversity Week events. The WICT Network’s Leadership Conference, the 37th Annual NAMIC Conference and The Walter Kaitz Foundation’s Annual Fundraising Dinner emphasized the industry’s valuing of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts to stay competitive in an evolving entertainment marketplace. Click on the gallery below for snapshots from all three events.  

The Walter Kaitz Foundation celebrated its 40th-anniversary fundraising dinner Wednesday by raising more than $1.1 million toward the media and connectivity industry’s continued diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The dinner, co-chaired by Comcast executive VP and chief diversity officer Dalila Wilson-Scott and Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels, drew more than 500 industry executives to the dinner, which officially concluded the industry’s Diversity Week festivities that included the WICT Network Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference.

Proceeds from the dinner, including more than $50,000 generated through a silent auction during the event, will go towards fostering diversity programs from organizations supported by Kaitz, including The WICT Network, NAMIC, the Emma L. Bowen Foundation and the T. Howard Foundation.

During the dinner, the foundation honored The Hidden Genius Project and Hallmark Media’s Black-targeted Mahogany original content division with ChangeMaker Awards. Tied in with the dinner's anniversary, Wilson-Scott surprised Hidden Genius Project CEO Brandon Nicholson on stage with a $40,000 grant supporting the Oakland, California-based group's work mentoring Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship and leadership skills.

Spencer Kaitz addressed attendees by stating the cable industry should take pride in its diversity efforts, which began long before most other industries recognized the importance of a diverse and inclusive workforce. He added, though, that the industry still needs to continue its efforts to further build a diverse and inclusive 

“Martin Luther King challenged all of us with his dream of what America could be,” Kaitz said. “Tonight I believe that if the great Dr. King was here looking around this room, he would say that we have moved past the beginning of achieving his dream. But we are here tonight because we know we are nowhere near the fulfillment of that dream.”

NCTA: The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell thanked Spencer Kaitz and the foundation for its diversity advocacy efforts, adding that companies have to remain committed to the ideals of diversity and inclusion to be successful. 

“We will continue to thrive if we preserve our strong pledge to the values and the mission of inclusion, and if we’re unafraid to let the sun shine in to reveal areas where we fall short,” Powell said.

Creating and shaping the television industry’s future, building legacies and staying focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts are all themes that will resonate throughout September Diversity Week festivities in New York.

The WICT Network’s Leadership Conference, the 37th Annual NAMIC Conference and The Walter Kaitz Foundation’s Annual Fundraising Dinner — all of which will take place during the week of September 18 — will seek to build on last year’s return to an in-person celebration by emphasizing the industry’s valuing of DEI efforts as a way to stay competitive in an evolving entertainment marketplace, organizers said.  

“The industry is doubling down on DEI, given everything that is going on in our industry with the shifts in companies and the economic environment in which our business is operated,” NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said. “We’re way too invested in DEI and what it means to the industry. For the most part, our CEOs are clear that DEI is not a feel-good proposition, but it actually ties itself to the bottom line.” 

WICT Kicks Off Week

The WICT Network will open Diversity Week on September 18 with its annual Leadership Conference. Under the theme “Co-Create the Future,” conference organizers said the two-day event will feature more sessions and networking roundtables than previous iterations.  

WICT will dole out honors during its opening day Touchstones Luncheon, including for its “Women of the Year”: Comcast executive VP and chief diversity officer Dalila Wilson-Scott and Paramount Global president and CEO of International Markets, Global Consumer Products & Experiences Pam Kaufman. The organization will also honor three “Women to Watch”: Charter Communications senior VP of billing strategy and design, customer operations Stephanie Babin; A+E Networks senior VP, legal and business affairs Kelley Drukker; and Listing Central LLC founder and CEO Nicole Nixon. 

“The industry’s commitment to DEI is stronger than ever,” WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan said. “Our conference promises an opportunity for established and emerging leaders to gain the insights, strategies, and inspiration that are essential for navigating the ever-evolving challenges of our time.”  

The 37th annual NAMIC Conference, under the theme “Our Legacy, a Mosaic of Possibilities,” will look to provide attendees — through numerous interactive sessions and networking opportunities — with actionable solutions to advance diversity and inclusion within their companies, Washington said.   

NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt will headline the NAMIC conference, which runs over two days beginning September 19. During the conference, NAMIC will also honor NBCU News Group’s Jose Diaz-Balart with the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award during the September 20 Awards Luncheon. Other confirmed NAMIC conference speakers include film producer Will Packer and best-selling author Steve Pemberton.

“The conference is really about embracing our 40-plus year legacy of being focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and exploring what the possibilities are in terms of going forward,” Washington said. 

Kaitz Keeps DEI in Focus

Comcast’s Wilson-Scott, along with Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels, will co-chair the 40th anniversary Walter Kaitz Foundation Annual Fundraising Dinner on September 23. With its theme of “Staying Focused,” the fundraising affair will acknowledge the DEI progress that the industry has made through the foundation’s partners and supporters, Kaitz officials said.

Charter Communications will sponsor a pre-dinner reception, including a silent auction of “a carefully curated collection of items and experiences,” Kaitz said.

This year’s Diversity Week output will not include the industry’s joint NAMIC and WICT diversity employment study, released every two years. 

Last year’s report concluded that female representation in the workforce increased by 5 percentage points since the prior report in 2019, even as the pandemic had a significantly greater impact on the employment of women overall. Workforce representation by people of color fell by 7 percentage points, dropping to 37% from 44% since the 2019 survey. 

NBC News anchor Lester Holt will serve as the headliner fortThe National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications’s 37th annual NAMIC Conference this September in New York. 

Holt, host of NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt and Dateline NBC, most recently earned the 2022 Edward R. Murrow Award in the Newscast category. The NAMIC Conference, which takes place September 19-20, looks to promote a shared industry responsibility for diversity, equity, access and inclusion, with attendees learning about best practices, building valuable networks and gaining actionable solutions to advance DEAI within their companies, according to the organization. 

“We are honored to have Lester Holt as the headliner for the 37th annual NAMIC Conference," NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said in a statement. “His remarkable career and dedication to diverse storytelling align perfectly with NAMIC’s mission. We are excited to hear his insights and perspective as we continue to build a more inclusive industry together.”

The NAMIC Conference is part of the cable industry’s September 18-20 Diversity Week festivities in New York, which also includes the WICT Leadership Conference and the Walter Kaitz Foundation Fundraising Dinner.

Diversity Week made its return to New York from October 9-13, with The WICT Network Leadership Conference and Touchstones Luncheon, the NAMIC Conference and the Walter Kaitz Foundation Annual Fundraising Dinner all returning to in-person status for the first time since 2019. Plus, the Cable TV Pioneers inducted their 2022 class at a gala ahead of SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia, and more. 

James Hendricks, a 49-year-old group VP at Charter Communications's Spectrum Reach ad-sales business, died in September while on a visit to the New Jersey Shore, only weeks before he was set to be honored as a Next Generation Leader at the annual NAMIC Conference in New York. At the NAMIC conference on Wednesday, David Kline, the Spectrum Reach president and an executive VP at Charter, said Spectrum Reach was establishing an annual James Hendricks Award "to recognize an employee who exemplifies integrity, tenacity, collaboration and intelligence."

"Simply put, James was an agent of change," Kline said after relating how he and other Charter employees had traveled to a memorial service for Hendricks in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, and learned about non-work aspects of his life, including his devotion to family and community organizations in Ohio and New York. Hendricks had only been at Spectrum Reach for about two years, after working in human resources at ESPN and NBCUniversal, so most of his Charter colleagues only knew him professionally, Kline said.

Spectrum Reach also noted the Next Generation Leader honor for Hendricks in a social post. 

Other Next Generation Leaders honored at the ceremony paid tribute to Hendricks as well. Freddy Rolón, senior VP, programming and scheduling at ESPN, said he and Hendricks were in the same Executive Development Leadership Program class at NAMIC and then worked together at the sports network. He said Hendricks was someone who would encourage people he knew to step up when he saw opportunities for them. "If he believed in someone, he would want them to succeed," said Rolón.

Rolón asked leaders at the conference, inspired by Hendricks's memory, to look for chances to "lift someone up," encourage them and if appropriate coach them "or just let them know that you believe in them."

The NAMIC Conference is part of the cable industry's Diversity Week, which continues Wednesday night with the Walter Kaitz Foundation annual fundraising dinner, supporting foundation grants to organizations including NAMIC. ■

Workplace representation for women in the cable and communications industry has increased since 2019 while the representation of people of color fell in that period, according to a joint NAMIC and WICT diversity employment study released Tuesday.

The executive summary of the 2022 AIM/PAR Workplace Diversity Survey — unveiled at a Town Hall meeting in New York in conjunction with the WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference — reflects the impact of the pandemic as well as social-justice movements in the country since the last survey was conducted in 2019, the organizations said. 

Also: Departing Kaitz Foundation Head Michelle Ray on Diversity Efforts: ‘There’s Always Going to Be More to Do’ (Q&A)

The 2022 survey — which generated participation from 18 organizations representing 69% of the industry workforce — reported that female representation in the workforce increased by 5 percentage points since the 2019 tally, even as women overall were significantly more impacted by the pandemic in terms of employment. Overall, women made up 51% of the workforce at programmer companies and 31% of the overall MSO workforce, according to the survey.

Women also comprised 47% of all new hires in participating media, entertainment and technology companies, up 1 percentage point from 2019. Women and women of color saw increases in professional, manager and executive/senior manager roles, according to the survey. People of color were promoted (14%) and transferred within (8%) the surveyed organizations at slightly higher rates than overall rates within the industry. 

“Despite the Great Resignation and she-cession, our industry has created environments where women are able to thrive, while also highlighting challenges to overcome,” WICT Network president and CEO Maria E. Brennan said. “As we continue to navigate new ways of working, we will use this data to help companies strengthen their practices to ensure that women remain on a trajectory to achieve parity with men.”

The industry employment and representation picture for people of color was not as positive. People of color experienced a 7 percentage point reduction in workforce representation, dropping to 37% from 44% since the 2019 survey. The biggest losses were employees at the junior level professional and manager ranks at cable MSOs, while people of color found employment gains among participating content companies, according to the survey. 

National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington told Multichannel News that she hopes the participating companies will learn from the results and find ways to attract and recruit people of color to their companies. 

“Once they look at their individual results, they will do an internal assessment of what happened, and whether there are things that they could be looking at more intentionally as it relates to people of color,” she said.

Washington added that the results of the survey are vitally important to the industry's ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. “The fact that this industry measures itself is critical — I don’t know any other industry that does that,” she said. “What gets measured gets done and we always need to be focused on that.” 

The AIM/PAR survey is administered by PwC and funded by the Walter Kaitz Foundation, which holds its annual fundraising dinner Wednesday night at the Marriott Marquis. ■  

This year’s Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner on October 12 will be the first in-person celebration since 2019 due to the pandemic. It's also the last will be presided over by the foundation's executive director, Michelle Ray, who is leaving the organization in December. 

During her 15 years as head of the foundation, Ray, a former NCTA–The Broadband & Television Asssociation staffer who joined Kaitz in 2006 as senior program director, has overseen the annual fundraising dinner, which overall has raised more than $23 million in grants toward cable industry diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She also helped launch Kaitz’s annual Hollywood Creative Forum, which champions culturally accurate representation across the entertainment industry.

Ray provided her thoughts on the resumption of the Kaitz dinner and reflected on her accomplishments and legacy at the organization in a recent interview with Multichannel News, an edited version of which appears below. 

MCN: Why have you decided to leave the Walter Kaitz Foundation at this point in time? 

Michelle Ray: The truth is, over the last year I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal family health issues along with going through the whole COVID environment. I realized that I needed time for me to be the best me. It’s not even about the work. I believe in what we’re doing and I want to be able to give all of my energy to the work that we’re doing.

MCN: Looking back, have you accomplished the goals that you set for the organization as executive director? 

MR: I would love to say of course I did, but the truth is we’re not just trying to solve DEI for an industry, for an organization or even for our companies. We’re trying to make societal shifts, because that’s where the real work lies. I think there’s always going to be more to do. We’re not even close to solving all of the diversity, equity and inclusion issues that are part of society as a whole. The death of George Floyd really brought the issues of DEI front and center from a broad perspective as we thought about social justice movements and what we’re really doing as companies and individuals attacking these issues around DEI.

MCN: Having said that, do you think that the industry has at least taken the right steps forward toward dealing with DEI issues within its own ranks?

MR: Again, I don't want to say that we’re all doing great. The truth is we have to do more, and I think there’s a clear call for us to do more. What I have noticed is that I see a lot of companies really leaning in on social justice, especially on the content side. Those companies were focused on making sure that stories of marginalized and disparate people were being told by hiring people who could ideally tell those stories and then they brought those stories to life on our screens. Also, I saw broadband companies trying to deliver broadband to diverse communities who are largely rural. The issues around broadband deployments continue to be an ongoing effort, but I saw everyone picking themselves up and leaning more into addressing a lot of these issues, whether as a broadband company, technology company or content curator. 

MCN: Diversity Week is fast approaching, and the industry is gathering in-person for the first time in two years. What effect does being in-person have on the diversity discussion across the various events?

MR: I think being in-person and talking about these issues is more important than ever before. I think it will signal to our industry that as leaders, we all should be joining together for the discussion of diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly since it’s a gathering that’s so specifically curated for our industry. No other industry does this, so if you think about it, we just need to continue to do more of it. I think being around each other is an important aspect of what we’re trying to achieve. What I've realized within the COVID environment when we were largely at home and away from each other is that we needed that human touch. From an interpersonal standpoint, when you’re in a room with somebody, it’s so markedly different from being on a Zoom call or a telephone call. 

MCN: What are you personally hoping to accomplish with this year’s Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner? 

MR: As we approached this year’s dinner, I thought because we hadn’t seen each other in years that we wouldn’t do the same things and show up in the same way that we showed up in previous years. My thought was, how do we come back to something that's different? So one of the things we’ve done is we’ve largely retired our Diversity Champion and Diversity Advocate Awards and created a new ChangeMakers Award. It’s really reimagining what we do in acknowledging someone for the seminal work that they’re doing. 

One of the honorees is an organization called Human-I-T, which focuses on social justice and works with a lot of companies within our industry to make sure that sustainability is at the forefront of the work that they do. They work closely with Cox, Charter and Comcast. The second honor we had was an individual, Daisy Auger-Dominguez, who is chief people officer at Vice Media Group. She’s an executive and game-changer that thinks about inclusive workplaces and what that should look like. So that was part of the reframing of the awards, if you will, and that will continue to evolve and change.

MCN: The Kaitz Foundation is working with WICT and NAMIC to present the AIM/PAR Diversity Employment Study next week. What should the industry take away from the results of that study as it pertains to its diversity efforts?

MR: It’s the only way that we’re going to be able to benchmark how we’re doing as industry. If we were to walk away from that, it would be a disservice to all of us because I think metrics are an important aspect of the work that we do. If we can’t measure something then we can’t see or understand it. That’s why the study continues to be relevant and important. It requires a lot of support and commitment from the industry and the industry has been very supportive of it. 

MCN: Have you considered what your legacy will be at the Walter Kaitz Foundation?

MR: It’s something I haven’t really thought about. I’m in the people business, whether it’s at work or personally, so for me legacy is about making sure that we make connections with people regardless of what aspect of work you’re involved in. So I hope to maintain those connections, and whatever I decide to do after this I hope it still involves touching people. ■

The NAMIC Conference will return to New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel and in-person status on October 11-12, and with it, the organization’s Annual Awards Luncheon set for October 12. And once again, the spotlight will fall on a new group of Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries. 

The Next Generation Leader Awards are NAMIC’s top industry honor, recognizing four individuals who have distinguished themselves as thought leaders, trendsetters and change agents, as well as for their work to advance multiethnic diversity in the industry by educating, advocating and empowering people and organizations.

This year’s Leaders honorees are:

• Kia Painter, Executive VP, Chief People Officer, Cox Communications
• Freddy Rolón, Senior VP, Programming and Scheduling, ESPN;
• Monica Williams, Senior VP, Digital Products & Operations, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal.
• James Hendricks, former Group VP of HR and Administration at Spectrum Reach, who will be honored posthumously.

The Luminary Awards honor up-and-coming leaders with the potential to be tomorrow’s movers and shakers. They demonstrate strong leadership skills and embrace NAMIC’s mission by working to advance multiethnic diversity.

The Luminaries to be honored by NAMIC are: 

• Denise Bennett, VP, Brand Strategy & Idea Lab, iHeartMedia;
• Rahman Khan, VP, Community Impact, Charter Communications;
• Noel Manzano, VP, International Programming and Development, AMC Networks;
• Grace Moss, VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Programs, Warner Bros. Discovery;
• John Singleton, VP, Operations, Charter Communications;
• Tonya Walley, VP, Field Operations Strategy, Cox Communications;
• Chin Wang, VP, Visual Storytelling, Digital Media, ESPN;
• Sophia Zeinu, VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Workforce, Warner Bros. Discovery.

This year, NAMIC is introducing a new honor, the Diversity in Technology Award, which will go to Franklyn Athias, senior VP of emerging technology and services at Comcast Cable (see profile below). Juju Chang, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline, will receive the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award. 

The 36th annual NAMIC Conference, themed “Resilience: The Courage to Lead,” is part of the cable industry’s Diversity Week, set to feature in-person events for the first time since before the pandemic. For more information or to register, go to namic.com/annual-namic-conference. 

Next Generation Leaders

James Hendricks
Group VP, HR & Administration, Spectrum Reach
Charter Communications
December 8, 1972-September 18, 2022
(Presented posthumously)

James Hendricks was group VP, human resources & administration for Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales and production services division of Charter Communications. With more than 25 years of progressive HR leadership experience, James led a team of 85 people, supporting 3,000 employees in 182 locations. Hendricks was responsible for Spectrum Reach’s HR generalists, talent acquisition, Diversity & Inclusion, learning and development, facilities and in-house project-management organization. He previously held key HR leadership roles at ESPN and General Electric (NBC, Telemundo, MSNBC). 

Hendricks was a participating member of NAMIC, CTHRA/C2HR, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the National Black MBA Association. He also served on the board of directors for Safe Horizon as well as the board of directors for New Light Baptist Church. James earned his MBA and bachelor’s degrees in business management and psychology from Case Western Reserve Unviersity. He participated in the GE Human Resources Leadership Program and the International Scholar Program at the University of Seville in Spain.

“It’s my honor to receive this prestigious award and to be included with this group of accomplished fellow award recipients in the media industry,” Hendricks said. “I’m proud of the efforts that our Spectrum Reach team has made in advancing D&I since I joined, and I remain focused on continual improvement and accountability.”

Kia Painter
Executive VP, Chief People Officer
Cox Communications

Kia Painter is Cox’s incoming executive VP and chief people officer, responsible for leading the  cable operator’s HR and talent organization. Prior to this role, Painter was senior VP, HR business bartnerships. She has led the company’s key talent practices including compensation, inclusion and diversity, leadership development, organization design, and succession planning, and employee engagement.   

Painter joined Cox in 1998, after college, as a part-time HR assistant in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Over more than 24 years, she has risen through the company’s ranks and led HR in Cox regions and markets across the Southeast, notably in Virginia, Florida, and Louisiana.  In 2015, she moved to Atlanta to establish the company’s employee experience and organization design practices.  

She was named a 2021 Horizon Women to Watch by The WICT Network Southeast and was named a NAMIC Luminary in 2011, to the Multichannel News 40 Under 40 in 2014 and was on CableFax’s Diversity List in 2019, 2020 and 2021. 

She earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from James Madison University, a master’s degree in human and organizational development from The George Washington Unversity and an MBA from Tulane University.  

“I have had many career-changing experiences because of NAMIC’s impact on my life,” Painter said. “My time in NAMIC’s Mentoring Program, Leadership Seminar, and ELDP prepared me for today. To receive the Next Generation Leadership award from an organization that has enriched me so tremendously is the apex and quite extraordinary. Thank you NAMIC.”

Freddy Rolón
Senior VP, Programming and Scheduling
ESPN

Freddy Rolón was promoted into the role of senior VP, programming and scheduling at ESPN last September. He is responsible for leading the overall content strategy and schedule for ESPN’s linear networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS. He also oversees all aspects of the ESPN Deportes business. 

Rolón has played an integral role in the development of the company’s content strategy to reach bilingual Hispanics consuming sports content across all of ESPN’s English-language platforms.  He works closely with ESPN’s programming, production, audio, digital and print media teams, to maximize the relevance and appeal of its English-language products to U.S. Hispanic fans.

Rolón serves as a member of The Walt Disney Co.’s CEO Diversity & Inclusion Council and is on the board of NAMIC and Partnership with Children.

“I thank NAMIC humbly for this award and for decades of vital leadership in our industry,” Rolón said. “I am grateful to be recognized by an organization I so deeply respect and for impactful work I feel immensely proud to be a part of at ESPN and The Walt Disney Co.”

Monica Williams
Senior VP, Digital Products & Operations, Content Distribution GroupNBCUniversal

Monica Williams’s current role at NBCUniversal encompasses content fulfillment of on-demand and linear channels, as well as developing innovative experiences through product and data solutions. Following consumer attention, Williams and her team apply a human-centered design approach and developed a metadata optimization initiative that drives efficient content discovery to meet business needs. 

Williams is a founding member and leader of “Asian Pacific Americans@NBCUniversal,” She is also a founding member of Chief in Los Angeles, serves on the advisory board for StreamTV, the global advisory board for NBCU TechWomen and is on the board of directors for Youth Design Center.

She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of science in industrial operations engineering and earned an MBA from Claremont Graduate University’s Peter Drucker School of Management. She isa graduate of Harvard Business School’s Cable Executive Management Program.

“I am honored to accept NAMIC’s Next Generation Leaders Award alongside such deserving peers,” Williams said. “Recognition like this inspires me to continue to bring an all-important diversity lens to everything we do and leverage diversity as a business imperative in the industry. Thank you to NAMIC for helping us create cultures of belonging in our industries and workplaces.”

Luminaries

Denise Bennett
VP, Brand Strategy
iHeart Media

As VP of brand strategy at iHeart Media, Denise Bennet specializes in multicultural marketing partnerships. Her 20-year career has included roles at WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, the NBA, TV One and Viacom. 

She has held various leadership roles with NAMIC New York, including two terms as chapter president, and in 2019 completed the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. She also serves as a professor at both the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business and New York University. 

Her many accolades include The Network Journal's 2019 40 Under 40 Achievement Award; 2020 Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) Technology Catalyst; 2021 Advertising Club of New York Rock Star Award; and Black Women in Media Trailblazer Honoree.

Bennett has a bachelor of science in music business from Indiana State University and an MBA in marketing and media & communications from Fordham University.  

Away from the office, she is a classically trained pianist, an avid world traveler and a proud and active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

“I owe so much of my fundamental career development to NAMIC,” Bennett said. “NAMIC provided me with access to relationships and leadership opportunities that I value and evangelize daily. It’s from NAMIC that I learned my most valuable mantra of ‘build your bridge before you need it.’ ”

Rahman Khan
VP, Community Impact
Charter Communications

Rahman Khan leads strategic philanthropic and employee engagement programs for Charter under the Spectrum brand. As VP, community impact, he develops and executes the company’s mission to improve communities. He led the 2021 launch of Charter’s largest-ever philanthropic program, Spectrum Community Center Assist, a $30 million, five-year effort to revitalize local community centers and invest in job training. 

Khan also led the development of Spectrum Digital Education, a grant program that helps seniors and families understand the benefits of broadband and how to use it to improve their lives. To date, this program has committed more than $8 million to local community organizations. The work of his Community Impact team for Charter has been recognized by the state of Connecticut and the Los Angeles City Council, among other distinctions.

Khan received his business and graduate education degrees from Florida A&M University. He is a graduate of NAMIC’s Executive Leadership Development Program.
“It is a great honor to be recognized as a Luminary by NAMIC, an organization I’ve long supported,” he said, “NAMIC’s efforts to advance diversity and inclusion in our industry, paired with the actions we take as individuals, make us all stronger.”

Noel Manzano
Head, International Programming
AMC Networks

Noel Manzano is head of international programming at AMC Networks, working across AMC, AMC Plus, SundanceNow and BBC America. He identifies and develops original content with creative talent around the world, and works within the AMC Networks Entertainment Group to move existing projects forward. Notable projects include epic crime saga Gangs of London, from Gareth Evans, and 61st Street from visionary creator Peter Moffat. 

Prior to AMC, Manzano was the director of development for Hoodlum Entertainment, where he ran the company’s U.S. content development slate and strategy and drove internationally produced projects. He started his career at WME in feature films and then moved into television at Sierra/Affinity and Dynamic Television. Manzano is a graduate of New York University.

“It’s an honor to be recognized amongst so many outstanding executives by NAMIC — an organization I’m proud to be a part of,” Manzano said. “An honor like this inspires me to do more of what I can to champion and lift up the voices of my colleagues from all communities. Thank you.”

Grace Moss
VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Warner Bros. Discovery

As VP of diversity, equity and inclusion, Grace Moss helps oversee Warner Bros. Discovery’s efforts to expand the pool of historically-excluded talent and to break down barriers through a comprehensive suite of pipeline programs and extensive engagements with prestigious film festivals and creative conferences.

Prior to WBD, Moss was the head of talent development and inclusion for NBC Entertainment, where she spearheaded multiple programs that focused on cultivating and showcasing talented writers and directors of diverse backgrounds. Before NBC, she was a development executive at the Style Network, and prior to that a freelance reality producer and director.  

Moss’s leadership training includes the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Athlete Training Program, Comcast’s Know Your Value initiative and Harvard Business School’s Leadership Consortium. She graduated from UCLA with a bachelor of arts in English, minoring in Asian-American Studies.  

“Back in 2011, I was a newly promoted manager and experienced my very first leadership seminar through NAMIC,” Moss recalled. “I was well-equipped with important, foundational knowledge that I have implemented along my professional journey over the past decade. To now be honored with this Luminary Award is truly a full-circle moment.”

John Singleton Jr.
VP, Network Operations
Charter Communications

John Singleton is VP of network operations at Charter Communications, responsible for solution acceptance, product improvement, troubleshooting and vendor analysis across the video infrastructure. These primary functions require close coordination with Charter’s Product and Engineering organizations to ensure optimal deployment and operation of all products.

His current focus is on centralizing and consolidating distributed architectures to enhance reliability and availability across Charter’s footprint, while ensuring the landscape remains competitive and up-to-date.  

Previously, Singleton served in various capacities across Charter’s Network Operations team at Charter and assisted in post-acquisition activities involving Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Before joining Charter, he worked at Cox Communications, where he was responsible for video operations, strategy and product development.  

With more than 20 years of telecommunications experience, Singleton enjoys mentoring engineers and leaders on their paths to successfully achieve their career goals.

“Being a NAMIC Luminary award recipient serves as not only a personal achievement but an accomplishment on behalf of all diverse talent within our industry,” he said. “This opportunity is only possible due to the individuals who have come before me, dedicating their careers to ensuring professional development is possible for all.

Tonya Walley
VP, Field Operations Strategy
Cox Communications

Tonya Walley leads Cox’s field operations in 21 states, including residential and business customer installations, maintenance of 116,000 miles of network and the company’s continued focus on customer excellence. She began her cable industry career more than 25 years ago as a front-line field technician then progressed to various leadership roles. When she joined Cox in 2018 as VP of field operations in Virginia, Walley immediately focused on delivering a data-based approach to the customer and employee experience, all while paying it forward. 

A native of New Jersey, Walley completed her undergraduate degree at Saint Peter’s College, majoring in computer science. She also holds dual master’s degrees from Stevens Institute of Technology in telecommunications management and network engineering. She is passionate about continuous learning and has demonstrated that through her most recent Strategy and Execution certificate from Harvard Business School and completion of NAMIC’s Executive Development Leadership Program. 

“I am thrilled and honored to receive this recognition from NAMIC and will continue to live and breathe the values of NAMIC by mentoring, giving back and paying it forward,” Walley said. “I am truly humbled and will continue to inspire, encourage, and engage our future leaders with impact.”

Chin Wang
VP, Visual Storytelling
ESPN

Chin Wang was promoted to VP, visual storytelling in ESPN’s creative studio department in September 2021. Wang, who joined the sports programmer in 2012 as senior art director of ESPN The Magazine, had worked for 11 months as senior director, visual storytelling.  

Wang leads a team of visual journalists, photo editors, web developers, designers, concept artists and animators whose work reaches every ESPN platform. She is responsible for editorial design and photography on the ESPN website and app, including custom microsites, special projects, branding, key art, illustration and data visualization. She also manages the team that concepts, designs and directs television graphics packages from studio shows to live events across all networks, as well as ESPN Plus and 30 for 30 Films & Originals. In addition, she defines the visual identity for Andscape (formerly The Undefeated).  

“As someone who strives to embody the mission of NAMIC, I am beyond honored to be recognized as a Luminary,” Wang said. “Advocating for diversity in our industry is more imperative now than ever and to play a part in that effort at ESPN truly adds meaning to my work.”

Sophia Zeinu
VP, Equity & Inclusion Strategies
Warner Bros. Discovery

Sophia Zeinu, VP of equity & inclusion strategies for Warner Bros. Discovery, uses a data-driven, systems-based approach to develop and operationalize global diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies. She focuses on redesigning talent and organizational systems with an equity lens, building leadership and employee DEI capabilities, fostering a more inclusive culture and enabling measurement and accountability at the enterprise and business-unit level.

Prior to WBD, Zeinu worked in Deloitte Consulting’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practice where she helped numerous global organizations navigate DEI transformations and facilitated DEI sessions for thousands of employees at Fortune 500 organizations. She has also authored and contributed to DEI thoughtware, including Support Your Black Workforce, Now; 10 Ways HR Can Support the Black Workforce; and Becoming an Equitable Enterprise. 

Zeinu has a bachelor of arts in sociology from Georgetown University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. 

“I feel deeply honored and grateful to be recognized by NAMIC amongst so many incredible leaders,” she said. “NAMIC has a long history of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and I am committed to continuing to champion the work to make a lasting impact on our industry and beyond.”

Diversity in Technology Award

Franklyn Athias
Senior VP, Emerging Technology and Services
Comcast Cable

Franklyn Athias leads the convergence of Comcast’s mobile product with its broadband connectivity services. He drives the roadmap for delivering new converged connectivity services as well as the growth strategy for related platforms and features for both mobile and broadband.

Since joining Comcast in 1995, Athias has been responsible for developing and deploying strategic growth opportunities to launch services for TV, internet, digital voice and wireless, most recently leading the integration of Xfinity Mobile into Comcast’s next-generation product portfolio.

During his 27-year career with Comcast, Athias has spearheaded several IP architecture programs for cable-modem broadband services. Notable accomplishments include serving as lead architect for the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice strategy, for Comcast’s first residential and business broadband launches and for the Comcast.net internet service, as well as leading the evaluation of the industry’s first VoIP service using cable modems.

Athias is an executive sponsor of the BENgineers, technologists and engineers who are part of Comcast’s Black Employee Network (BEN). He actively participates in many standards-making and professional advocacy organizations in the technology and engineering industries, including SCTE, NAMIC, NSBE, NSPE, and IEEE, and founded computer-coding programs in his local community to develop STEM/STEAM skills among minority youth.

Athias holds more than two dozen U.S. patents and received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

“I’m honored and grateful to be nominated by my peers and to be selected by NAMIC for this inaugural award,” Athias said. “Diversity in technology and a mission for change have always been a passion of mine and I’m inspired by the progress that is being made to strengthen inclusive opportunities in our industry.” ■

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications will honor Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang with its 2022 Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award during its October 12 NAMIC Conference luncheon.

Chang, who also reports regularly for Good Morning America and 20/20 as part of a more than 30-year journalism career, is being recognized for her in-depth personal narratives set against the backdrop of pressing national and international news, according to NAMIC. Among Chang's recent career highlights are two, hour-long specials in 2021 revolving around the rise of hate crimes toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Chang, who began her career in 1987 at ABC News as an entry-level desk assistant, has also profiled newsmakers like Facebook COO Sheryl Sanderg, Joe Biden and Oprah Winfrey, as well as entertainers like Chris Pratt, Tom Hanks and Nicki Minaj. 

Also: NAMIC Set to Honor Next Generation Leaders, Luminaries at Conference

“Juju Chang’s storytelling, career and philanthropic endeavors represent what NAMIC stands for at its core: empowerment and advancement of diversity, equity, access and inclusion,” NAMIC Inc president and CEO Shuanise Washington in a statement. “Chang has boldly shared the lives and perspectives of people, who are too often underrepresented and marginalized. She’s given them a voice and shined an important light that will illuminate for generations to come.”

The 36th annual NAMIC Conference will take place October 11-12, part of the cable industry's Diversity Week festivities.■

The cable industry’s Diversity Week suite of conferences and networking activities will welcome attendees for the first time in two years, as The WICT Network, NAMIC and The Walter Kaitz Foundation hold in-person events recognizing diversity and inclusion efforts in media and entertainment.

WICT and NAMIC will hold their respective conferences in person beginning Monday, October 10, after being virtual since 2020 due the pandemic. Both organizations plan to also offer virtual access to select general sessions, panel discussions and awards ceremonies. 

NAMIC and WICT will once again team to deliver the latest AIM/PAR Workplace Survey, which focuses on the current state of ethnic and gender diversity within the media and entertainment industry.

The most recent AIM/PAR survey, in 2019, reported a slight increase in the representation of people of color and women in executive and senior management positions compared to the 2017 report. 

The WICT Network’s two-day 2022 Leadership Conference at the New York Marriott Marquis kicks off the week’s activities on Monday, October 10. Under the theme “The Great Reset,” the conference’s program will explore work trends most relevant to media, entertainment and technology professionals and the big picture concepts — from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to flexible workplaces to transformational approaches in building personal and organizational resilience — that are shaping today’s future workplace, WICT Network president and CEO Maria Brennan said.  

“Following a two-year hiatus of our in-person Leadership Conference, we’re excited to bring our community back together under one roof for two jam-packed days of education and inspiration,” Brennan said. “Our industry is built on connecting people, so it’s no surprise that our stakeholders are rearing to reconnect.” 

Cox Enterprises president and chief people officer Jill Campbell is set to receive WICT’s first Fearless Leader Award at the conference.

The 36th annual NAMIC Conference’s theme, “Resilience: The Courage to Lead,” will focus on challenges facing the industry in the year ahead and will feature a lineup of industry executives tasked with navigating the economic and social turbulence that marked the last two years, according to
the organization.

ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro will serve as NAMIC’s honorary chair of the conference, to be held October 11 and 12. Along with general sessions, breakout panels and receptions, the gathering will feature the organization’s annual awards ceremony saluting NAMIC’s Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries, emerging executives of diverse race or ethnicity who show the most potential to become tomorrow’s movers and shakers.

“The pandemic dramatically altered our landscape, from the shape of our workforce to shifts in consumer spending,” NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said. “It was an unprecedented level of change in just two years, and it required incredible resilience. NAMIC’s 2022 Annual Conference is dedicated to drawing the most important lessons from those changes and exploring possibilities for the future.”

Kaitz Dinner Returns

The Walter Kaitz Foundation closes out Diversity Week with the return of the annual fundraising dinner on Wednesday, October 12, at the New York Marriott Marquis. The dinner’s theme, “forward + together,” speaks to a renewed movement around inclusion and equity, according to the foundation. Dinner proceeds fund grants to NAMIC, The WICT Network, the Emma L. Bowen Foundation and the T. Howard Foundation. 

While not officially part of Diversity Week, media diversity-focused organization the T. Howard Foundation will hold its annual diversity fundraising dinner in New York on Wednesday, September 14. 

The organization, which has not held its awards dinner since 2019, will this year honor A+E Networks president and chairman Paul Buccieri, CBS president and CEO George Cheeks and NBCUniversal executive VP and chief diversity officer Craig Robinson. CNN anchor Abby Phillip will receive a Diversity Advocate Award. The dinner recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and companies committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in media and entertainment. ▪️

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications is celebrating its 2021 class of Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries, a group of industry executives who’ve made indelible marks within their companies and in the industry at large.
The group of 12 honorees was recognized Oct. 6 at NAMIC’s virtual Annual Awards Ceremony, part of the industry’s annual Diversity Week events. 

The Next Generation Leader Awards are NAMIC’s top industry honor, recognizing four individuals who have distinguished themselves as thought leaders, trendsetters and change agents, and have actively worked to advance multi-ethnic diversity in the industry by educating, advocating and empowering people and organizations. Multichannel News partners with NAMIC in annually saluting these individuals who are making a difference in the media industry.

This year’s Next Generation Leaders are:

• Rhonda Crichlow, senior VP, chief diversity officer, Charter Communications;

• Rob King, senior VP and editor at large, ESPN Content;

• Joiava Philpott, senior VP, law and policy, Cox Communications;

• Jessica Prois, editorial director, NBC Asian America, NBC News Digital.

The Luminary Awards honor up-and-coming leaders with the potential to be tomorrow’s movers and shakers. They demonstrate strong leadership skills and embrace NAMIC’s mission by working to advance multiethnic diversity.

This year’s Luminaries are:

• Rosetta Ellis-Pilie, VP, talent development and negotiations, ESPN;

• Gregg Fujimoto, senior VP, field operations, Charter Communications;

• Karen Horne, senior VP, equity and inclusion programs, WarnerMedia;

• Raina Kelley, VP and editor-in-chief, The Undefeated, ESPN;

• Nikki Love, VP, development and production, ALLBLK, AMC Networks;

• Samata Narra, senior VP, equity and inclusion, content, WarnerMedia;

• Manoj Shamdasani, VP, programming and brand partnerships for News 12 Networks, Altice USA;

• MyKhanh Shelton, senior VP, equity and inclusion, workforce, WarnerMedia.

For more on this year’s honorees, read the profiles below. 

Next Generation Leaders

Rhonda Nesmith Crichlow
Senior VP and Chief Diversity Officer, Charter Communications 

As a member of Charter’s executive leadership team, Rhonda Crichlow develops and manages the Stamford, Connecticut-based MSO’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategy, including its D&I Center of Excellence. In 2019, her portfolio was expanded to include leadership of Charter Community Impact, which encompasses the company’s strategic philanthropic investments and volunteer initiatives involving more than 95,000 employees. 

Prior to joining Charter, she worked at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she was VP and head, U.S. Diversity & Inclusion, president of the Novartis U.S. Foundation and a member of the Innovative Medicines Executive Committee. She joined Novartis in 2006 as executive director, philanthropic and community development. Under her leadership, Novartis was recognized by DiversityInc as a leading company for D&I in 2014 and 2015. 

An attorney who practiced law in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., earlier in her career, she was involved in several landmark class-action racial discrimination lawsuits brought by African-American farmers and also worked as a corporate tax attorney. She served as a clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter. She holds a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University, a master’s of public policy from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.   

“I am honored to receive this recognition from NAMIC, and I will work earnestly to continue opening doors and empowering emerging leaders in our industry,” Crichlow said. 

Rob King
Senior VP and Editor-At-Large, ESPN Content

Rob King is responsible for ESPN’s overall journalistic direction, working closely with leaders across ESPN Films, original content, digital content, social media, multiplatform journalism and storytelling and global content. Named to his current post in March 2020, he advises ESPN’s senior leadership team on editorial issues and leads ESPN’s Inclusive Content Committee, tasked with serving as a diverse resource for the company’s content creators. 

King joined ESPN in 2004, previously serving as senior VP, original content, focusing on longform storytelling and enterprise journalism. His content portfolio included ESPN Films, the “30 for 30” series and ESPN Plus original series; domestic and international longform journalism, including ESPN the Magazine, The Undefeated, espnW, E: 60 and features; and ESPN’s investigative journalism unit and newsmagazine series Outside the Lines. He also served as senior VP, SportsCenter and news, and oversaw all global and digital content from 2007 to 2014. 

Originally a newspaper journalist, King worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and the Commercial-News in Danville, Illinois. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the inaugural class of Penn State University’s School of Communications. He is a past Pulitzer Prize judge; a member of the AP board of directors; the National Sports Journalism Center’s advisory board; the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board, where he is chair; and the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting. 

“NAMIC’s mission to empower BIPOC leaders has enriched not only our industry, but also our society,” King said. “So I am breathlessly honored to count myself among those who have been recognized by NAMIC for our commitment to our colleagues and to this incalculably essential work.”

Joiava Philpott
Senior VP, General Counsel, Cox Communications

Joiava Philpott joined Atlanta-based cable operator Cox as senior VP and general counsel after serving as general counsel at Astro Turf LLC, a prior stint at Cox as VP, government affairs and after working as assistant general counsel at KMC Telecom. Philpott began her career in the city of Atlanta’s Law Department as a telecommunications and cable law adviser. 

She has served in a variety of leadership and board roles on such nonprofits as the American Corporate Counsel Association, NAMIC, the Federal Communications Bar Association and the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential. Philpott has been recognized by Black Enterprise magazine, Diversity & the Bar magazine and Cablefax. 

She holds a law degree and an MBA from American University and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Hamptons University. She completed executive development programs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the WICT Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program with the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

“Promoting diversity and inclusion is part of my DNA as a leader and is a top business priority,” Philpott said. “It has become ingrained into my leadership ethos. To be recognized for something as meaningful to me as my primary expertise as a business and legal executive is truly humbling.”

Jessica Prois
Editorial Director, NBC Asian America, NBC News Digital

Under the direction of Jessica Prois, NBC Asian America has become the fastest-growing vertical on NBCNews.com. Prior to joining NBC News, she launched HuffPost Asian Voices and served as the section’s executive editor. 

Prois’s work has appeared in such outlets as New York magazine, National Public Radio, Elle and more. She was the recipient of a S.I. Newhouse journalism fellowship and a Johns Hopkins/Gates Foundation fellowship.

“I'm honored to receive an NAMIC Next Generation Leader award,” Prois said. “I feel so lucky to have the privilege of telling the wonderfully diverse stories of our community, and my commitment is and always will be to our readers at NBC Asian America.”

Luminaries

Rosetta Ellis-Pilie
VP, Talent Development & Negotiations, ESPN

Rosetta Ellis-Pilie leads the day-to-day efforts of ESPN’s Talent Office, responsible for hiring, developing and guiding the programmer’s commentator team, negotiating contracts and collaborating with ESPN departments and external contacts on any matters related to commentator roles and responsibilities. 

A U.S. Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, Ellis-Pilie graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in business administration. The New Jersey native earned her juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is also a graduate of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Program Class XIV.

“As a graduate of NAMIC’s Executive Leadership Program, I have a deep appreciation for the values this organization champions,” Ellis-Pilie said. “I am honored to be recognized and will continue the endeavor to advance NAMIC’s goals as our ESPN team develops, advocates for and empowers a diverse group of on-air talent.”  

Gregg Fujimoto
Senior VP, Field Operations, Charter Communications

Gregg Fujimoto is tasked with providing strategic and tactical leadership and oversight for Charter’s Hawaii franchise. His mission is to build on and enhance the goal of providing Spectrum customers with best-in-class service. 

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he began his cable career at Time Warner Cable, where he was senior VP, brand strategy and marketing communications for residential services, and led the MSO’s rapidly growing digital sales channel. 

Fujimoto, who comes from a fourth-generation Hawaiian family, continues to build new relationships and give back to the local community. He is a member of the American Red Cross board, the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Council, the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Broadband Assistance Advisory Council and Cable Advisory Committee, and a board member for the REACH after school initiative. 

“I am honored to represent Charter in receiving NAMIC’s recognition,” Fujimoto said. “NAMIC’s mission to educate, advocate and empower multiethnic diversity mirrors my personal and professional ambitions. I am proud to support and enhance NAMIC’s ambitions today and into the future.”

Karen Horne
Senior VP, Equity and Inclusion Programs, WarnerMedia

Karen Horne is a senior executive with 20 years of entertainment industry experience who has been recognized as a diversity and inclusion pioneer and pipeline-builder.

She joined WarnerMedia in 2020 after serving as senior VP, programming, talent development and inclusion at NBC Entertainment and Universal Television Studios, where she was responsible for overseeing primetime diversity efforts both in front of and behind the camera for NBC and Universal Television.  

She also served as director, creative affairs at IDT Animation and designed, implemented and oversaw Nickelodeon’s Writer Fellowship Program. Horne also was a director of writer development and special projects and studio liaison for the Walt Disney Studios Fellowship Program at Walt Disney Network Television. She served as director, West Coast, for the Black Filmmaker Foundation in Los Angeles. 

Horne also worked at HBO in Los Angeles as a co-producer for the Emmy Award-winning animated series Spawn. She worked as executive assistant to the president of ABC Entertainment and held positions at the network and at ABC Sports. She serves on the boards of Montclair State University’s School of Communication and Media; USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative; and The Alliance of Women Directors. 

“Since its inception, NAMIC has been a true champion for the communication industry’s multiethnic community,” Horne said. “It is truly an honor to be recognized by an organization whose mission to educate, advocate and empower is so aligned with the work my team and I do at WarnerMedia.”

Nikki Love
VP of Development and Original Production, ALLBLK, AMC Networks

Nikki Love oversees the expanding slate of scripted originals for streaming service ALLBLK (formerly Urban Movie Channel). Since signing on in January of 2019, she has executive produced such highly ranked shows as A House Divided, Double Cross and Behind Her Faith. 

Love serves as a liaison between the streaming service for Black TV and film and its content creators throughout script development, production and postproduction. She is the on-set executive for all original series, supervising such hits as Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy; Stuck With You; Terror Lake Drive; For the Love of Jason; A Closer Look and Millennials.

Before joining ALLBLK, Love was a producer of feature films, short films, web series and music videos. Notable projects included indie film The Last Fall, directed by Oscar winner Matthew Cherry; 2018 Sundance Film Festival entry A Boy. A Girl. A Dream; multiple films for BET and the “Chloe x Halle: Warrior” music video for the soundtrack to A Wrinkle in Time. 

She founded JNL Media, where she produced films for more than 10 years, and founded the industry networking organization REEL Ladies.

“I feel truly humbled and blessed to receive this year’s award and to be included in such a powerful group of my peers,” Love said. “I am not only honored to continue the mission of NAMIC but motivated to carry the torch and make an impact in our industry. Thank you!”

Raina Kelley
VP and Editor-in-Chief, The Undefeated, ESPN

Since May 2021, Raina Kelley has set the editorial direction, policies, oversight and strategy for The Undefeated, ESPN’s multiplatform content initiative exploring the intersection of sports, race and culture. She succeeded launch editor Kevin Merida after serving as managing editor for five years. 

As managing editor, Kelley steered The Undefeated’s content expansion efforts across Disney, including the “Music for the Movement” series with Hollywood Records, The Undefeated Presents: Hamilton In-Depth with Kelley Carter on Disney Plus and other partnerships. She leads ESPN’s Black History Always initiative, which highlights the contributions of African-Americans through long- and short-form storytelling across media platforms beyond Black History Month. Her work earned The Undefeated awards from the AP Sports Editors and the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence, among others. 

Kelley joined ESPN in 2011 as a senior editor at ESPN the Magazine, rising to deputy editor. She also worked at Newsweek/The Daily Beast from 2003 to 2011, where she wrote a column on American culture, race, gender and politics. There, she won the 2010 Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award for a package titled “The Beauty Advantage.” She graduated from Yale University in 1992. 

“I sincerely thank NAMIC for inducting me into this year’s Luminaries class,” Kelley said. “The NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program already gave me so much, including clarity and precision of my mission and goals in a safe and exhilarating environment. I am honored and grateful for this award and will continue to make diversity and inclusion the foundation of everything we do at The Undefeated and ESPN.”

Samata Narra
VP of Enterprise Inclusion, Content Strategy, WarnerMedia 

Samata Narra is responsible for building innovative tools and global systems across WarnerMedia to facilitate the advancement of diversity in its storytelling. She recently joined the company from Fox, where she was senior VP of comedy development and current programming. 

At Fox, Narra developed and oversaw live action and animated comedy series, including The Last Man on Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Bob’s Burgers and The Mindy Project.   

She also spent a part of her career in representation at Fineman Entertainment and The William Morris Agency. While at Fineman, she developed the series Lights Out for FX and produced the Emmy-nominated romantic comedy documentary Meet the Patels.  

She is on the board of Film2Future, a nonprofit providing equitable access to the entertainment industry for underrepresented Los Angeles youth, as well as Colour Entertainment and South Asian Women in Entertainment (SAWIE). 

A native of Pikeville, Kentucky, Narra earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing from the Boston University School of Management. 

“I feel incredibly honored to be recognized by NAMIC, an organization with such a longstanding commitment to building the next generation of leaders,” she said. “I am looking forward to continuing the tradition as a leader at WarnerMedia.”

Manoj Shamdasani
VP, Programming and Brand Partnerships, News 12 Networks

Manoj Shamdasani guides the editorial coverage for news programming and specials across all seven of Altice USA’s News 12 channels, which operate in the cable company’s New York City-area Optimum territories. He also works with ad sales on sponsorship opportunities. 

Shamdasani joined News 12 The Bronx and News 12 Brooklyn in 2013 as assistant news director before being promoted to news director. He has also worked in Pennsylvania and Singapore in local and international news. He grew up in Hong Kong, where his dad made sure both Manoj and his sister watched World News Tonight with Peter Jennings every evening, followed by the local news and weather. He not only preaches about diversity and inclusion in the newsroom but encourages others to find their voice and be heard.

“Diversity in the newsroom is paramount to the success of a news organization so they can best reflect the people, ideas and values of the communities that they serve,” Shamdasani said. “It’s an honor to be recognized as a leader in the field and an industry Luminary by NAMIC.” 

MyKhanh Shelton
Senior VP, Enterprise Inclusion, WarnerMedia

MyKhanh Shelton is responsible for leading WarnerMedia’s workforce and production safety initiatives and for working closely with the human resources team and business units to create consistent measurements, practices and systems to increase the recruitment, retention and advancement of underrepresented groups. 

In a previous role as senior VP, global inclusion at 21st Century Fox, she led the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and worked closely with business leaders to design initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion across its film, television, sports, news and digital portfolio. A central focus of the Global Inclusion Team’s work was spearheading internal programs and external partnerships to increase diverse stories, portrayals, and representation in the entertainment industry, including the Fox Filmmakers Lab, the Fox Writers Lab, the Television Directors Lab, the Fox DP Lab (focused on female directors of photography) and the Fox Creative Lab: Taiwan. Shelton also led the development of a global strategy and roadmap for the creation of Colleague Network and Resource Groups, which led to the successful launch of Fox Noir, APEX, Hola, Women@Fox, Fox Vets and Pride.   

A graduate of UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley Law School, she began her law career at a firm before joining Fox as counsel, advancing to senior VP, Fox Group Legal. She is an international and Los Angeles board member of the nonprofit group Facing History and Ourselves. 

“It is an honor to be recognized by an organization that is so highly respected and impactful as NAMIC is and has been for so many decades,” Shelton said. “I am grateful to NAMIC for this recognition and even more so for their unwavering commitment to diversity in the communications industry.”

NAMIC will look to shine a light on the advancement of the cable industry’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts during its virtual 35th annual NAMIC Conference, which launches Tuesday (Oct. 5) as part of the industry's Diversity Week festivities.

The theme of the three-day conference is “Removing Obstacles. Magnifying Opportunities” and will feature a lineup of industry leaders and experts discussing the pressing DEI issues facing the communications and cable industry, according to NAMIC.

The conference will open Tuesday with its L. Patrick Mellon Mentoring session featuring a discussion with Music World Entertainment president Mathew Knowles. Other conference highlights include NAMIC’s annual Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries Awards; the “Meet the Execs” panel session featuring Walt Disney Company VP, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution Christian Divino, Kishshana & CEO CEO Kishshana Palmer, and Arrington Coaching LLC COO David Arrington; and the” Setting the Course of International Allyship” panel featuring WarnerMedia SVP, Equity and Inclusion MyKhanh Shelton and A+E Networks EVP, Corporate Brand Strategy and Chief of Staff Juliana Stock.   

NAMIC president and CEO Shuanise Washington spoke to Multichannel News about this year’s virtual NAMIC Conference goals and objectives and provided an early look at plans for the diversity organization’s in-person NAMIC Conference in 2022. An edited version of the interview appears below. 

MCN: What are your goals for this year’s NAMIC Conference? 

Shuanise Washington: Our 35th annual conference will provide a global platform for emerging and thought leaders to discuss topics ranging from culturally competent marketing to racial equity. Attendees will engage in professional networking sessions, delve into best practices with industry leaders, and learn the emerging industry trends that will shift the future of cable and communications. 

MCN: Has going to a virtual format for a second straight year helped or hurt attendance sign-ups? 

SW: Our registration numbers have already exceeded last year and people are still registering. A virtual format has expanded our ability to reach more people and in turn allowed more people to be a part of our conference. We are thrilled that the cable, media and entertainment  industry continue to rely on NAMIC and our annual conference for tools, strategies and professional connections to empower diversity, equity and inclusion in their companies. 

MCN: Has the virtual format made it easier to secure key speakers? 

SW: In some ways, it has. We have been able to expand the breadth and depth of our speaker pool because we do not have to contend with travel and a fixed timeframe, so to speak, as many of the sessions are pre-recorded. I am really excited about so many of our sessions and speakers this year, like the L. Patrick Mellon session on mentoring with Dr. Mathew Knowles. Dr. Knowles and Julissa Bermudez, television personality and actress at CLEO TV, will engage in a lively discussion about the importance of mentoring in establishing a successful career and legacy.  They will tackle issues many underrepresented employees feel might have already existed within their companies—even before the COVID pandemic: isolation, lack of support, barriers to access, and so on. 

MCN: Will you continue to feature virtual elements at next year's conference when it's back to in-person status? 

SW: Yes. The virtual format has been quite successful in expanding our reach and in making the conference more accessible. Accessibility is central to our mission. We are exploring ways to enhance the virtual experience so that we can draw attendees from every state in the nation—and from people committed to DEI work in the media, entertainment and cable industry around the world. 

The Oct. 4 WICT Leadership Conference kicks off the cable industry’s Diversity Week festivities, which for the second straight year will be held virtually and also includes the NAMIC Conference (Oct. 5-8) and The Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising event (Oct. 6). 

The two-day WICT Conference, with its theme of “Together We Shine, Together We Thrive,” will feature several sessions and keynote speakers that will look to empower its members as well as conference attendees to thrive in a challenging business environment. WICT President and CEO Maria Brennan spoke to Multichannel News regarding the organization’s outlook for this year’s conference. An edited version of the interview appears below.

Multichannel News: Are you satisfied with the attendance numbers heading into the virtual conference?

Maria Brennan: I'm more than satisfied. I said that I would be happy if we got more than 800 [attendees] by conference time and we are at 799 so I’m pretty confident we’ll get there. Last year as you may recall we set a record for attendance of about 840 -- it would be nice to get there, but I've been very, very pleased. I think it’s a really good indication that even though we may have some virtual learning fatigue, there's still always time to make the time for the Leadership Conference and Diversity Week. I think it’s a good sign that people still have it in them to participate in the work we do to bring Diversity Week to the masses, along with NAMIC and the Walter Kaitz Foundation.

MCN: You mentioned record attendance for last year’s conference. Has the industry been able to maintain the momentum for WICT's diversity and equality efforts from last year?

MB: Absolutely, and we're now at a very critical inflection point: women in terms of the workforce lost a lot of ground in a year and a half. In fact, the Women's Economic Forum has the last year and a half or two years setting back women in the workforce a good three decades behind what it was before the pandemic. That’s the bad news, but here's the good news:  we can also recover exponentially quicker with a bit of a course correction. That's why events like this are so important. We're certainly teaching and talking about the business of the business, but we're also teaching and instilling really good practices when it comes to recruiting, retaining and advancing women and people of color. The global pandemic hurt women in the workforce, but it can also help us get to parody quicker if we take these issues seriously and work collaboratively and collectively to try to stop that course. I know we work in an industry that believes in the diversity imperative, so we know that the companies we work with are going to put resources toward it. 

MCN: What are some of the highlights of this year’s conference? 

MB: I bet I say this every year, but I think this is one of the most extraordinary collections of speakers we’ve ever had. I’m really excited and proud about where we are and I think that’s why we’ve seen our numbers stay strong from year to year. We have some tremendous general sessions and keynote speakers, including [MSNBC President] Rashida Jones. One of the things that we know in terms of building diversity is that it starts in the C-suite. Women are going to get parity with men exponentially quicker when men are part of the solution. That’s why I’m excited about the CEO panel that we’re doing. There will be some real important CEOs who really are putting forward best practices when it comes to putting women at all different levels within the company, including [Cox Communications President and CEO] Pat Esser, [Altice USA CEO] Dexter Goei, [Urban One CEO] Alfred Liggins and [Charter Communications CFO] Chris Winfrey. I’m also a huge fan of our 'Pearls of Wisdom' session as well as our 'Beyond the Hashtag:#LoveIsLove' session. Niecy Nash is going to preempt the session with lovely remarks about her journey.

MCN: WICT is planning to hold the Leadership Conference in person next year. Does having gone virtual for two straight years present some challenges for the conference in 2022? 

MB: It does, but here’s the silver lining: I hope there will never be a WICT Leadership Conference that is strictly in person. I think we should always make it hybrid. We have to meet people where they are. Not everybody is going to want to get back in a crowded room right away. Also, some people just don't have the clearance to get on a plane and go to New York for a few days. We can really make this a more inclusive experience by reformatting it based on what we've learned in an entirely virtual scenario. 

The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) will launch its joint AIM/PAR Workforce Diversity Survey in November, with plans to release the findings during Diversity Week 2022.

The two-year joint workforce survey, which focuses on the current state of ethnic and gender diversity within the media and entertainment industry, was delayed from going out to industry companies earlier this year due to the pandemic, according to NAMIC and WICT officials. 

The 2019 AIM/PAR survey saw an increase in representation of people of color and women in executive and senior-level management positions by 3% and 2%, respectively, compared to the 2017 survey. Also, hiring rates for people of color exceeded the rate for white people by roughly 15% compared with the last survey, while hiring rates for women exceeded the rate of men by nine percentage points.

Read Also: WICT, NAMIC Surveys: Women, People of Color Increase Representation at Senior, Executive and Board Levels 

Leading up to the survey launch, NAMIC, WICT and the Walter Kaitz Foundation will kick off the Commit to be Counted campaign to garner awareness and a commitment from survey-eligible companies. The campaign will reinforce the value of participation in the survey and demonstrate how the data is a critical tool for the industry to improve its efforts to create inclusive workplaces, said the companies. 

The 2021 Diversity Week event will again be held virtually, but will resume with in-person activities in 2022, according to WICT, NAMIC and The Walter Kaitz Foundation. 

The 2021 WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference will be held online beginning Oct. 4. In a joint press release the organizations said that they hope to build on the success of 2020’s virtual Diversity Week conferences, which were held online due to the pandemic. 

Read Also: Diversity Week Spurs Virtual Conversations

WICT’s annual Leadership Conference will kick off this year’s Diversity Week festivities Oct. 4-5. “WICT is excited to usher in Diversity Week 2021 with its Leadership Conference. We plan to feature a mix of live networking activities and seamless presentations, panels and interactive sessions, which proved to be a highly-successful formula last year,” said WICT President & CEO, Maria Brennan in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with our diversity partners at NAMIC and the Walter Kaitz Foundation to provide the industry with a first-rate virtual experience.” 

NAMIC will hold its annual National Conference, titled Removing Barriers. Magnifying Opportunities, from Oct. 5 to Oct. 8. “As people around the world continue to navigate these challenging times, NAMIC is exploring important new ways to build diverse and inclusive workplace communities,” said Shuanise Washington, President and CEO of NAMIC. “Our theme is bold, intentional, and recognizes the moment we are in societally and the role that all of us collectively can play. I’m confident that Diversity Week 2021 will be educational, engaging, energizing, and entertaining.” 

The Walter Kaitz Foundation, which will not hold its fundraising dinner for the second straight year, will host a virtual event to celebrate the industry’s collective and future-focused efforts. “In the spirit of unity, we are excited to be part of Diversity Week 2021 which renews our industry’s efforts in support of equity and inclusion,” said Walter Kaitz Foundation Executive Director Michelle Ray.

Ray added that the organizations are looking forward to a return of in-person events in 2022.  “Knowing how much we all crave personal interaction, and with an optimistic eye towards global progress, we are thrilled to be planning the return of a spectacular in-person Dinner in New York City on October 12, 2022.”

Read Also: Michelle Ray Keeps Inclusion Efforts Top of Mind 

The cable industry’s annual Diversity Week gatherings took place virtually last month, as major media companies continue their efforts to create a more inclusive and equitable environment both on-screen and in the employment ranks. 

Recent diversity initiatives such as the CBS Studios/NAACP content production partnership, which tapped industry veteran Sheila Ducksworth as its president, and the partnership between ESPN and the Alliance for Women in Media, which will award $10,000 scholarships for Black females pursuing careers in sports media, have kept diversity and inclusion themes at the forefront of the industry.

Michelle Ray, executive director of leading diversity advocacy group The Walter Kaitz Foundation, addressed those recent efforts in an interview with Multichannel News. Here’s an edited version of that conversation. 

MCN: NAMIC and WICT drew more attendees for their virtual events this year than they did for their traditional events last year. Is that a positive sign that the industry remains committed to its diversity and inclusion efforts?

Michelle Ray: Given that [diversity and inclusion] has been front and center and in the spotlight, I think people largely wanted to understand and see what these organizations were talking about and what they were doing to change the game. I think there was that aspect of people who normally would not come to a Diversity Week in New York because their companies wouldn’t approve travel. It allowed everybody to peek into these conferences without having to spend copious amounts of money. Even though we didn’t have our traditional dinner, the issues of diversity and inclusion still remain on the front burner for the industry.

MCN: With recent moves toward fostering diversity from ViacomCBS and others in the industry, are you encouraged companies will continue the diversity discussion both on-screen and in the employment ranks beyond Diversity Week?

MR: Yes. I think particularly now, when we’re hurting financially — remember, studios aren’t fully shooting new content — it's important that we find ways to pivot in terms of content curation. When we get back to some sort of normalcy, these [diversity and inclusion] initiatives will already be in place. Take the [CBS] scenario: they’re looking to align with some third-party organizations like the NAACP. So with a lot of our companies it’s about how they help to lean into this conversation as people who know diversity and civil rights. They know the issue of the day and can work with the content creators. 

I’m so glad that these companies are leaning even more towards diversity and inclusion because they’re really the barometers of the communities that they serve. So I like that the fact that this industry is showing up in this special time of need, and I’m so optimistic that at the end of the day, any one company or organization can tackle any of these prevailing issues, whether it's around race, gender, sexual health. I don’t think any one organization or person can own that narrative, I think we all have to lean into it individually and then come together collectively to collaborate when we need to amplify that voice. 

MCN: What does ‘normal’ look like in 2021 for the industry’s diversity initiatives? 

MR: I want to be optimistic, but it’s going to be a long runway with this. For me, it’s about being really intentional about the work and what we’re trying to do to achieve and to reshuffle the decks. It’s about having impact and collaborating with organizations that focus on benchmarking and tracking so that we know where we’re at, particularly in terms of employment. We’re getting ready to work on the [NAMIC
and WICT AIM/PAR Workforce Survey], and for us, it’s about scrutinizing
and questioning every­thing. 

The industry’s Diversity Week festivities may not have been in person this year, but issues of diversity and inclusion remained front and center at the virtual events held by Women in Cable Telecommunications and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications.

Both WICT and NAMIC reported higher-than-expected attendance for their virtual presentations, which ran through most of last week. Between live registrations and on-demand signups, WICT said it has surpassed all previous WICT Leadership Conference attendance numbers with more than 843 registered attendees, while NAMIC reported registrations were up 40% from last year’s in-person event in New York.

COVID-19-related disruptions in both the office and the studio  — as well as the social unrest initiated by the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody — provided a backdrop to the industry’s continuing efforts to become more diverse and inclusive within the executive ranks and on the screen.

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell said during a WICT Oct. 5 session that Floyd’s killing, as well as other high-profile deaths of people of color at the hands of police, has galvanized both individuals and businesses toward a social justice movement within the country. 

“Business really had a wake up call in a way that I had not seen happen before,” Powell told session moderator Lori Hall, of marketing agency Pop’N Creative. “You’re seeing a lot more willingness by a new generation of business leaders to speak up and commit their company culture resources to important social questions facing the nation.” 

ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish said during NAMIC’s virtual town hall on
Oct. 8 that the conversations on race relations within companies are taking on greater relevance due to the events of this year. 

“I would say that eight minutes and 43 seconds really jolted us,” Bakish said of the time police kneeled on Floyd’s neck prior to his death. “It’s created a reckoning that’s led us all to confront systematic racism and bias that lives around us.”

Executives said part of that reality is further diversifying the executive ranks, as well as creating content that more accurately depicts the images and stories of people of color. While those efforts continue, speakers said the pandemic had created a new normal that the industry is still grappling with. 

The pandemic “has enabled us to think so much more creatively and pivot and work very quickly in brand new ways that we never thought we could,” Discovery Inc. chief lifestyle brands officer Kathleen Finch said during an Oct. 5 WICT session called “Navigating Chaos in a COVID World.”

Black News Channel president and CEO Princell Hair added it’s important for the industry and the country to stay diligent in diversity and inclusion efforts while not turning a blind eye to the plight of those who may have different experiences. 

“There’s a call to action that hasn’t been there in the past,” Hair said. “You can’t change what you don’t see, and it feels like society at large is really seeing what the problem is. It’s not just the people that are impacted by these various social injustices, coronavirus or the economy.” 

 The industry’s Diversity Week festivities may not have been in person this year, but issues of diversity and inclusion remained front and center at the virtual events held by Women in Cable Telecommunications and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications.

Both WICT and NAMIC reported higher-than-expected attendance for their virtual presentations, which ran through most of last week. Between live registrations and on-demand signups, WICT said it has surpassed all previous WICT Leadership Conference attendance numbers with more than 843 registered attendees, while NAMIC reported registrations were up 40% from last year's in-person event. Both the WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference were held at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in 2019.

COVID-19-related disruptions in business operations both in the office and the studio  — as well as the social unrest in the country initiated by the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody — provided a backdrop to the issue of the industry’s continuing efforts to become more diverse and inclusive within the executive ranks and on the screen.

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell said during a WICT Oct. 5 session that Floyd’s killing, as well as other high-profile deaths of people of color at the hands of police, has galvanized both individuals and businesses toward a social justice movement within the country. 

“Business really had a wake up call in a way that I had not seen happen before,” Powell told session moderator Lori Hall, of marketing agency Pop’N Creative. “You’re seeing a lot more willingness by a new generation of business leaders to speak up and commit their company culture resources to important social questions facing the nation.” 

ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish said during NAMIC’s virtual town hall on Oct. 8 that the conversations on race relations within companies are taking on greater relevance due to the events of this year. 

“I would say that eight minutes and 46 seconds really jolted us,” Bakish said of the time police kneeled on Floyd’s neck prior to his death. “It’s created a reckoning that’s led us all to confront systematic racism and bias that lives around us. We need to examine what we need to do to make diversity, inclusion, equity and justice a reality for everyone.”

Executives said part of that reality is further diversifying the executive ranks, as well as creating content that more accurately depicts the images and stories of people of color. While those efforts continue, speakers said the pandemic had created a new normal that the industry is still adjusting to and grappling with. 

The pandemic “has enabled us to think so much more creatively and pivot and work very quickly in brand new ways that we never thought we could,” Discovery Inc. chief lifestyle brands officer Kathleen Finch said during an Oct. 5 WICT session called “Navigating Chaos in a COVID World.”

Black News Channel president and CEO Princell Hair added it's important for the industry in general and the country at large to continue to remain diligent in diversity and inclusion efforts while not turning a blind eye to the plight of those who may have different experiences. 

“There’s a call to action that hasn’t been there in the past,” Hair said. “You can’t change what you don’t see, and it feels like society at large is really seeing what the problem is. It’s not just the people that are impacted by these various social injustices, coronavirus or struggling economy.” 

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, in partnership with Multichannel News, will celebrate the recipients of the 2020 Next Generation Leader Awards and Luminary Awards at a virtual awards ceremony, titled “40 Years: A Celebration of Legacy Building” sponsored by Univision Communications and set for Oct. 7 during the 34th Annual NAMIC Conference.

“Collectively, we are building our legacy for future generations, one that will go down in the history books as a model of strength, determination  and perseverance,” NAMIC president  A. Shuanise Washington said of the event. “As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, this year’s conference is a time to reflect on our progress, embrace new challenges, and define a roadmap for the future.” 

Profiles in  this section were provided by NAMIC. For more information on NAMIC’s Annual Awards Ceremony and the virtual 2020 NAMIC Conference, part of Diversity Week, visit conference.namic.com.

More on Diversity Week: WICT, NAMIC Power Up a Virtual Diversity Week

LEADERS

Rohan Kumar
Group VP, Digital Marketing, Charter Communications

Rohan Kumar, who joined Charter in 2014, oversees digital marketing and sales activities across residential, mobile and small and midsized businesses. His purview includes digital media, analytics, SEM/SEO, Etail, social media, website creative, delivery, product, QA and online ordering. Rohan was previously senior VP, strategic partnerships/media for TruEffect, served as the principal for Momentum Mechanics, and was the chief marketing officer for HDVMS – Adshuffle. Rohan received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Tech University, and attended the Cable Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Donna Northington
Executive VP, Distribution, Financial Planning and Strategy, WarnerMedia Distribution

Donna Northington leads a group at the domestic distribution and marketing arm of WarnerMedia that translates distribution strategic initiatives into financial and operating plans. Northington’s team works to develop rates, sales incentives, contract terms, annual budgets and long-range plans for WarnerMedia’s portfolio of domestic TV networks, premium channels and direct-to-consumer brands. She also assesses the economic impact of various business decisions and content acquisition targets and oversees the business operations department. Northington is based in Atlanta and reports to Rich Warren, president of WarnerMedia Distribution and Trey Turner, executive VP and chief financial officer, WarnerMedia Sales & International.

Philip Nutsugah
Senior VP, Product Development & Management , Cox Communications

Philip Nutsugah oversees Cox’s entire portfolio of residential and business products, including internet, video, voice, home security and automation, digital apps, wireless, devices and networking. Since joining Cox in 2006, Nutsugah has overseen the launch and rapid growth of such services as DOCSIS-based Gigabit Internet service, Panoramic WiFi, Contour Stream Player, SD-WAN, managed WiFi, MalBlock and managed security. Operationally, Nutusgah has overhauled Cox’s mobile app strategy and has improved the self-installation and self-service experience. Prior to joining Cox, he worked for Verizon and GTE in various leadership roles in Tampa, Dallas, St. Louis and Atlanta. The University of South Florida graduate served on Cox’s National Diversity & Inclusion Council for eight years and in 2019 was the executive sponsor of Cox’s Thrive Employee Resource Group. 

LUMINARIES

Michael Alexander
VP, Engineering and Construction, Altice USA

Michael Alexander is responsible for strategic planning supporting Altice’s national footprint; scoping, engineering, and deployment of enhanced design and construction projects.  He manages a staff of 200-plus contract engineers, consultants, contractors and vendors. He is also a board member of Altice’s Black Employee Affinity Network.

Alexander has keen experience in cable upgrades, operations  and public access WiFi, for which he holds   three related U.S. patents.  He is an SCTE certified member, founding member of the  SCTE Broadband GIS (geographic information system) group, and remains engaged in GIS software development. He has a background in engineering and business and graduated from Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus.

He is a life member of NAACP Lakeview in West Hempstead, N.Y.; president of the Lakeview Public Library; a board member and participant in mentoring programs such as Young Lions and Save Our Sons; a recipient of numerous community awards; and a passionate audiophile, art aficionado, and classic car enthusiast.

Julissa Bonfante
VP, Content Publicity, Univision Commmunications

Julissa Bonfante is responsible for developing, directing and managing all publicity efforts for Univision’s multiplatform content and top-ranked tentpole events. She works closely with network executives, show producers and talent relations to develop and execute comprehensive communications campaigns that help drive awareness and brand positioning in the marketplace.

Prior to this role, Bonfante served as director of corporate communications at Univision since 2016, where she played an integral role in spearheading communications efforts around the programmer’s digital portfolio.

Bonfante has more than 15 years of experience working in various roles across digital, corporate communications, media relations, executive positioning and brand management. She earned a bachelor of arts in media studies and psychology and an MBA in marketing from Fordham University.

Ashley McFarlin Buie
VP, Development, WE tv

Ashley McFarlin Buie oversees new and developing projects for WE tv and serves as an executive producer on the popular series Beyond the Pole. 

A 20-year industry veteran, she founded Bird’s Eye Entertainment and has worked on a multitude of shows with various television networks including Bravo, Discovery, OWN, Oxygen, CNN, MTV, Travel Channel and VH1, producing popular series such as Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Potomac (season one), The First Family of Hip Hop and Southern Charm New Orleans (season one). She also produced VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop spinoff series Meet the Mackies, as well as VH1’s hit Girls Cruise. She began her career as a production assistant at CNN.

Buie has served as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University, a guest lecturer at Yale and Clark Atlanta Universities; and as codirector of a nonprofit teen empowerment organization based in Harlem, The Power of You Teens. She has also published a book of daily devotionals, The Truth: Wrapped In Love. 

Buie received her B.A. in mass communications from Howard University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

Tushar Dave
VP, Call Center Desktop Applications, Charter Communications

Tushar Dave is responsible for leadership and technical oversight of various desktop applications used by call-center agents and shared services teams across customer operations. He leads an organization of 100-plus employees that is responsible for the development and implementation roadmaps of multiple strategic applications. Dave is an integral part of the Customer Operations Technology leadership team, driving improvements in customer experience, ingraining a world‐class sales and service culture and driving agent effectiveness as well as operating efficiencies. Dave has been on the Charter team for five years, starting as senior director, where he provided executive oversight and technical leadership for delivery of multiple CRM/non-CRM based applications and business analytics tools.

Dave joined Charter from Verizon Communications, where he managed the technical solution delivery of sales, retention and service support applications for Verizon's flagship FiOS product. 

He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India, as well as a master’s degree in Computer Science, and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Akash Gupta
VP, Digital Analytics, Discovery’s U.S. Digital Media Team

Akash Gupta is responsible for leading strategy, analytics and insights for the digital business for 17 networks including Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network and TLC. 

Prior to Discovery, Gupta worked as an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Technology, Media and Telecom industry group.There, he worked on several higher-profile deals including Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal from GE, the sale of Knology Holdings to WideOpenWest and AMC Networks’s spinoff from Cablevision Systems.

Akash has an MBA with high honors from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He also has a master’s degree from the University of Maryland and a degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Parvathy Hariharan
VP, Sales and Marketing, Comcast

Parvarthy Hariharan is responsible for building and executing strategies to drive subscriber growth and achieve financial objectives within Comcast’s 2.2 million-customer Heartland Region. She also is responsible for leading efforts in reducing customer churn. 

Prior to leading sales and marketing, Hariharan led the region’s efforts to transform the customer experience by combining analytical and data-driven insights with emotional intelligence to persuade and influence key stakeholders to drive change. 

Prior to Comcast, Parvathy practiced corporate strategy and advisory consulting for more than a decade. Her transformation efforts impacted more than $750 million in top-line growth and more than $500 million in bottom-line improvement at Fortune 500 clients. 

Her functional expertise includes growth and innovation, go-to-market approaches,
customer acquisition and retention strategies, mergers and acquisitions, sales effectiveness and pricing and profitability management. She developed this in a variety of business sectors, including manufacturing, automotive, distribution, chemicals, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. She is a board member at City Year Detroit and NAMIC Detroit and is an active mentor in the Customer Experience Professionals Association.

Cecilia Masola
VP, Digital Content Licensing, A+E Networks

Cecilia Masola develops and executes growth strategies for A+E Networks content on nonlinear platforms. Using a data-inspired approach, she works to optimize content placement, negotiate digital partnerships and project earnings.

Masola’s career began at Nielsen where she gained foundational research expertise across media platforms. Later, Masola moved onto AT&T where she was tasked with managing DirecTV Latin America’s proprietary ratings product. During her tenure at AT&T, she gained additional responsibilities leading negotiations for the licensing of non-linear content.  

Masola’s diverse background has enhanced her experience. She was born in Argentina and moved around the world, living in the U.S., Italy, Spain and Brazil. Being a “third-culture kid” allows her to enthusiastically embrace change, which led her to accept special projects and roles throughout her career that brought her to Chicago, San Francisco, London and Latin America.

Dana S. Wilson
Senior VP, Reliability Engineering, Comcast

Dana Wilson is responsible for driving and improving all standards across Comcast specific to change, incident, problem and asset management within network operations. She also leads reliability engineering product development, platform automation and national data center operations.

She joined Comcast in 2011 and has held roles of increasing leadership responsibility, most recently as VP, customer experience assurance. During her tenure, she led the delivery of Comcast’s Olympics experience for both the 2012 Summer and 2013 Winter Games. She also led the integration of the NBC Sports Live Extra Olympics app on X1, providing customers with 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage of the Sochi Winter Games.  

Wilson started her career at Comcast as senior director of product planning and delivery for Comcast Interactive Media, where she managed execution of the Xfinity product roadmap for online and mobile entertainment.

She is a graduate of Drexel University and holds a bachelor of science in chemical engineering. Wilson obtained a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification, which reflects her expertise in leading and executing complex initiatives across an organization.

The coronavirus pandemic has not dampened the interest and importance of Diversity Week within the cable industry, as WICT and NAMIC will hold their respective annual conferences virtually this week.

From in-depth video keynotes and panel sessions to virtual happy hours and meet and greets, the groups will look to make the virtual WICT Leadership Conference (Oct. 5-6) and the 34th Annual NAMIC Conference (Oct. 6-9) as informative and enlightening as past in-person Diversity Week gatherings. 

“There will always be a need for diversity and inclusion,” National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said. “Given the fact that we are in a pandemic environment and given the overall environment that we are operating in as a country, what NAMIC brings to bear in a general nature is clearly more important for our audience this year.” 

More on Diversity Week: Celebrating a Legacy During Unusual Times

Women in Cable Telecommunications president and CEO Maria Brennan said this year’s conference theme, “The Power of Resilience,” is fitting given the challenges the industry and the country has faced this year. 

“When you think about the images we’ve seen on TV and the documentaries that our members have been developing that capture what has been going on in the country, it shows the resiliency of the human spirit,” she said.

Attendance Holding Up  

Despite the unprecedented virtual venue for this year’s conferences, both WICT and NAMIC said registrations are pacing well against traditional attendance marks. 

Between live registrations and on-demand signups, WICT said it has surpassed all previous Leadership Conference attendance numbers with 843 registered attendees as of Sept. 2. 

NAMIC reported that registrations are 40% higher for this year's conference than for last year's live event.

As with previous conferences, WICT and NAMIC will partner for a joint general session on Oct. 6 focused on creating successful Employee Resource Groups that will include AMC Networks chief transformation and people officer Jennifer Caserta; Altice USA executive VP of government and community affairs and chief diversity officer Lee Schroeder; and Comcast executive director of diversity and inclusion Mini Timmaraju. 

While most of the WICT Leadership Conference sessions will be pre-produced, Brennan said that some elements of the conference will be presented live. 

“What’s cool about the conference is that it’ll be pretty hard to discern what’s live and what’s not,” she said. “It’s going to feel like you’re very much walking into the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis — the only difference is that you can go in your sweats.” 

WICT’s opening morning on Oct. 5 will feature a “Super Session” featuring Today host Sheinelle Jones and Comcast VP of local media development Ebonne Ruffins, followed by a keynote session featuring Deborah Gruenfeld, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University’s School of Business. Also on the agenda are appearances by NCTA: The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell, Discovery Inc. chief programming content and brand officer Kathleen Finch and TV One general manager Michelle Rice. 

Brennan said the conference will also continue with its popular “Pearls of Wisdom” session on Oct. 6, which features mini-keynotes from industry leaders. eatured speakers include HGTV president Jane Latman, attorney and TV host Eboni Willams and Diversability CEO and founder Tiffany Yu.

Overall, Brennan said the conference will offer 25 hours of programming across two days. “The beauty of it is you can consume it at your own pace,” she said. “As the program progresses it becomes on demand content.”

The NAMIC Conference’s  theme — “Building a Legacy: The Future is Now” — celebrates the organization’s four decades of commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion within the cable and communications industry workforce, Washington said. 

The four-day conference will offer keynote and breakout sessions that would have been offered concurrently under normal circumstances. “In the past people had to make a choice as to which ones to attend, but we’re not doing any overlapping programming this year as part of the conference,” she said. 

NAMIC will kick things off with its L. Patrick Mellon Mentoring Session, featuring WarnerMedia executive VP and chief enterprise inclusion officer Christy Haubegger and Essence Communications co-founder, CEO and publisher Ed Lewis. Oct. 8’s session will bring together ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises executive VP chief administrative and marketing officer Mónica Gil, Black News Channel president and CEO Princell Hair and Revolt Media & TV co-head and chief operating officer Detavio Samuels for a virtual Town Hall Meeting on Race and Relevancy in the Workplace, according to Washington. 

The organization will also recognize its Next Generation Leaders, Luminaries and Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award honoree during its Oct. 7 annual awards ceremony (see related story, page 16), as well as host a  Virtual Red Carpet and ELDP Graduation Ceremony on Oct. 9.

Rethinking Future Events

Washington said the ability for conference registrants to attend all of the conference sessions either live and on demand has helped build awareness and interest in the conference. She added that the situation has also forced NAMIC to rethink how it will operate future NAMIC Conferences. 

“It forces you to think about how you do business differently,” she said. “However the new normal will look when we open back up again, I think it’s safe to say that NAMIC will be looking at virtual opportunities for programming delivery from here on out.”

Brennan said future WICT Conferences would also look different post-pandemic.

“Everybody is going to have a different tolerance for crowds and live events after COVID-19 is under control, so for us there will be in the foreseeable future a hybrid approach to this event,” she said. “The WICT Leadership Conference is that one event in which all of our masses can get together, so we may continue to have some events online in the future.” λ

The cable and communications industry has made major strides in the hiring of women and people of color, but the industry is struggling with retaining women and people of color at the same pace as men and whites, according to industry diversity employment studies from NAMIC and WICT.

The results of the biennial study — revealed this morning at a Town Hall meeting in conjunction with the WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference — offered offered encouraging news on hiring and promotion of people of color and women compared to the last conducted reports in 2017.

Among the companies that participated in both the 2017 and the 2019 surveys, the 2019 AIM/PAR Workforce Survey reported that representation of people of color at executive/senior managers levels increased to 28.4% from 25.1% over the two-year period. In addition, the percentage of people of color at board of director levels increased to 16.8% from 15.3%. Compared to whites, the hiring percentage rate of people of color is 15.4 percentage points higher, said the survey.

Overall, people of color representation within cable industry increased at all levels for both operators and programmers, according to the survey. 

“It’s encouraging to see that people of color are making advancements in the industry,” says NAMIC President and CEO Shuanise Washington.

The survey also reported that female representation at the executive/senior management level increased to 34.9% from 32.7% compared to 2017, as well as at the board of directors level, to 25.2% from 16.8%. The overall promotional rate is higher for women than for men.

“We are grateful that we work in an industry that allows WICT and NAMIC to measure workforce diversity and inclusion,” said WICT President & CEO Maria E. Brennan. “Knowing where women and people of color stand is step-one in ensuring progress. As the survey results show, for women, closing the gaps in hiring and employee retention are central to achieving parity with men.”

The surveys also raised several red flags for the industry. Promotional rates for people of color are lower than whites, and young white professionals under the age of 36 are promoted at more than two times the rate of young professionals of color, according to the survey. For women, the survey reports that the turnover rate for women is 7.3 percentage points higher than for men.

“Clearly more needs to be done, particularly in the area of retaining and promoting people of color,” Washington said. “Companies need to shift from focusing solely on diversity to also focusing on inclusion. That’s where you are going to start to see real progress because diversity without inclusion is not effective in the long term.”

Brennan added that the data will help fortify the industry’s efforts to become more diverse and inclusive. “Like our partners at NAMIC and The Walter Kaitz Foundation, we will use this data to help companies strengthen their practices and policies to improve recruitment and retention of women within their workforce.” 

The AIM/PAR Workforce Survey was administered by research company Mercer and financially supported by The Walter Kaitz Foundation. A total of 21 organizations representing 75.5% of the industry workforce participated in the online survey of cable and communications companies, which employ more than 245,000 people, according to the organizations.

The cable TV industry this week will be closely watching the results of diversity employment surveys from Women In Cable Telecommunications and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications as the annual Diversity Week festivities kick off in New York.

The highlight of the three-day confab — which includes Monday’s WICT Leadership Conference, NAMIC’s 33nd Annual Conference on Tuesday and The Walter Kaitz Foundation’s fundraising dinner Wednesday evening — is Tuesday’s Town Hall meeting that will reveal WICT’s PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey and NAMIC’s AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) report. Both research studies are geared to help companies identify the factors that influence the industry’s ability to recruit, retain and advance a diverse workforce.

While the final results of the surveys were not available at press time, WICT, NAMIC and Kaitz executives said they are encouraged by preliminary results. The 2017 PAR and AIM surveys reported increases in women and people of color in senior level positions, but also showed a drop in promotion rates.

PAR for the Course

WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan did not disclose specific numbers for its PAR survey, but did say the share of women in executive and senior-level jobs is up, along with promotion and hiring rates.

”We’ll continue to not only showcase the good things about the survey but more importantly showcase the challenges, and help our industry enact practices and policies that will improve the numbers exponentially quicker than if they were doing it alone,” she said. “We’re grateful that the industry allows us to measure — that’s a big deal, because there are a lot of industries out there that don’t allow that at all.”

NAMIC president A. Shuanise Washington also said that this year’s AIM survey shows signs of improvement regarding minority hiring, retention and advancement compared to the previous 2017 survey: “There will be some progress that we can talk about but there will also be opportunity areas. I believe the results of the survey will certainly be indicative of that.”

Kaitz Foundation executive director Michelle Ray said she’s not discouraged by early results from the reports. “Sometimes no change or a little bit of change can be better than going backwards,” she said. “Whether the message is good or bad, it just makes me know that there’s still work to be done.”

Other key Diversity Week events include the WICT Leadership Conference, themed “Forge the Future,” which is expected to draw nearly 800 attendees to the conference. The conference’s opening session will feature a fireside chat with U.S. women’s hockey gold medalists and gender-equity advocates Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando.

“We’re so busy trying to get through the day to day and think of mid-term or near-term, but we want our members and women in the industry to think about long-term as well,” she said. “While the overarching theme of the sessions is leadership development, we are going to be forward-looking and forward-facing, so that we can help our members read the tea leaves.”

WICT is expecting more than 1,000 attendees for its annual Touchstones Luncheon, which will feature an artists’ panel with the co-creators and stars of IFC’s Baroness von Sketch Show, Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen. The organization will also present its Women of the Year and Women to Watch awards during the luncheon.

NAMIC Seeks a Dialogue

NAMIC will kick off its 32nd annual Conference — themed “Breaking Barriers: The Multicultural Media Agenda” — Tuesday with an opening keynote with the conference’s co-chairs, Cox Communications president Pat Esser and NCTA: The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell. “Traditionally, the organization has brought in an outside person to do a keynote, so for me it was really about having a dialogue with leaders within our industry,” Washington said.

Other NAMIC Conference highlights include the organization’s L. Patrick Mellon mentoring luncheon on Tuesday, featuring a moderated discussion with former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, and the annual awards luncheon on Wednesday, when NAMIC will award its Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award to Urban One founder and chairperson Cathy Hughes, as well as present the organization’s annual Next Generation Leaders Awards.

“The goal is trying to create opportunities for people to hear from those who have broken barriers in their professional lives,” Washington said. “We’ve been focused on making sure that when NAMIC members and other attendees get to the conference, it’s a cohesive and meaningful platform — not only informational but educational — and most importantly, something that they can take with them back to their day jobs.”

With its tagline “We’re All In,” the Walter Kaitz Foundation is expecting a strong showing for its annual fundraising dinner despite recent industry consolidation. Kaitz’s Ray said the organization is hopeful of matching or surpassing last year’s tally of $1.4 million in fundraising revenue.

“Given that we’ve had a lot of movement in the industry in the past year and that different financial decisions are being made in organizations that now have three or four other companies that we used to work with separately, we have seen a decrease in our fundraising efforts,” she said. “However, we’re encouraged because the numbers remain fairly robust, and we want to continue to build on that.”

Actor/comedian Chris Spencer (Aspire TV’s Icons, Idols + Influencers) will host the dinner, which will honor Comcast with the organization’s Diversity Champion Award and education-based, non-profit organization City Year with the Diversity Advocate Award, according to Ray.

“Inclusion has been the big play across the industry,” Ray said. “It’s no longer the notion that we’re just talking diversity — without speaking to the inclusivity piece of it, it’s hard to talk about diversity. Some people are pushing back and see diversity as differences; what we’re talking about is how to engage people that don’t have a voice.”

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, in partnership with Multichannel News, will celebrate the recipients of the 2019 Next Generation Leaders Awards this week. Honorees will be recognized during the NAMIC Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m., during the 33rd Annual NAMIC Conference at the New York Marriott Marquis, sponsored by Univision Communications.

The 2019 Next Generation Leaders Awards will be presented to the following executives:

• Keith F. Holmes, senior VP, residential sales, Cox Communications.
• Rashida Jones, senior VP, specials, NBC News and MSNBC, NBCUniversal.
• Satya Parimi, group VP, enterprise data, products & smart cities, Charter Communications.

These emerging executives are honored for demonstrating exceptional business acumen, while exemplifying NAMIC’s mission to educate, advocate and empower for multiethnic diversity and inclusion in the communications industry.

NAMIC will also induct the following executives into the 2019 Luminaries class:

• Ricky Frazier Jr., division VP, customer service strategy and retention, Comcast.
• Jae-Min Han, VP, law, chief counsel, Charter Communications.
• Alexis Johnson, VP, programming acquisition, Charter Communications.
• Camille C. Joseph-Goldman, regional VP, state government affairs, Charter Communications.
• Patricia Estrada Martin, SVP, service assurance, Cox Communications.
• Marcella Milliet Sciorra, VP, ad sales & product marketing, Charter Communications.
• Wayne Thompson, VP, telecoms, connectivity and capacity management, Altice USA.

“Each of these amazing Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries is a beacon that guides NAMIC, media companies, and the entire industry towards a future of extraordinary possibilities,” NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said. “They represent what it means when opportunity meets preparation and when visionaries have the courage to step forward and change the course of history.”

LEADERS

MSO: Keith F. Holmes
Senior VP and Head of Residential Sales Cox

Keith F. Holmes oversees a $9 billion division and is responsible for sales, retention, sales operations, sales strategy and performance, as well as multiple dwelling units. He drives sales and retention through inbound and outbound sales centers, retention centers, Cox-owned retail, third-party retail (local and big box), direct sales channels and vendors.

Prior to his role at Cox, Holmes was VP and general manager, AT&T Mobility.

He received his bachelor’s degree in management from Georgia Tech and his MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Holmes also dedicates time to nonprofit community service, serving as a board member for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta and Gwinnett Technical College. He lives with his wife, Bridget, and their two children, Kaci and Keith, in Atlanta.

PROGRAMMER: Rashida Jones
Senior VP of Specials NBC News and MSNBC

Rashida Jones spearheads cross-platform coverage and special news productions, major planned news events and long-form specials, as well as live breaking news reports, for both NBC News and MSNBC. Her responsibilities include election nights, primary and presidential debates, political conventions and other major coverage initiatives. She also leads the NBC News Decision Desk, a team of data scientists responsible for making all race call decisions on primary and election nights.

She is a graduate of Hampton University, where she was inducted into the Scripps Howard Journalism Hall of Fame. She is also an ambassador for the Alliance for Women in Media, a board member of the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Association of Black Journalists.

TECHNOLOGY: Satya Parimi
Group VP, Data Products and Smart Cities Spectrum Enterprise

Satya Parimi is group VP of data products and smart cities for Spectrum Enterprise, a suite of scalable, fiber-based technology solutions offered by Charter to many of America’s largest businesses and communications service providers. Parimi manages the Data Product portfolio, driving product performance and creating new services, including Spectrum Smart Cities.

He previously held leadership roles in product management, new business development and corporate strategy. Parimi started his telecommunications career in technology startups.

Parimi earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and executive leadership certification from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California through the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program.

LUMINARIES

Ricky Frazier Jr.
Division VP, Customer Service Strategy and Retention, Comcast

Ricky Frazier Jr. has a proven 16-year track record of developing innovative strategies designed to improve the Comcast customer experience. In his current role, he is responsible for end-to-end customer experience initiatives and process improvement in the Central Division, comprising 13 states and more than 10 million customers. He is also responsible for shaping the employee experience of over 6,000 professionals through employee engagement and communications. Frazier has served as a formal and informal mentor to countless professionals of all ethnicities across Comcast and the industry. He has helped to guide cultural transformations and to catapult the success of multiple professionals and leaders at Comcast. His leadership has resulted in major customer experience improvements and operational efficiencies.

Jae-Min Han
VP, Chief Counsel, Spectrum Networks

Jae Min-Han counsels and advises Spectrum Networks, Charter’s news and regional sports network businesses, on a range of issues, including licensing, content production and distribution, newsroom and editorial matters, and marketing and sponsorships. Prior to joining Spectrum, she was an associate at the law firm Akin Gump, where she worked with NY1 News — a role that ultimately led her to join the company to work on litigation, advertising and marketing review and newsroom matters. She is a graduate of SUNY-Binghamton and University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Alexis Johnson
VP of Programming Acquisition, Charter

At Charter, Alexis Johnson leads negotiations for distribution agreements and develops programming strategies that accelerate subscription growth with general market and multicultural consumers. From DirecTV to Verizon to Time Warner Cable/Charter, Johnson has worked on the front lines of content delivery to consumers and continues to help shape industry standards for programming operations and content acquisition.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s in communications management from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the Southwestern University School of Law. A strong believer in the power of community service, Johnson is a board director for the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and personally supports NAMIC, the T. Howard Foundation and other community-service organizations.

Camille C. Joseph-Goldman
Regional VP, Government Affairs, Charter

Camille C. Joseph-Goldman oversees and manages government affairs, strategic partnerships and investments, consumer protection and telecommunications regulation from New Jersey to Maine. Previously, she worked in politics and public policy, serving as New York City’s youngest appointed deputy comptroller, as director of intergovernmental affairs and special adviser to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), as well as national African-American vote deputy director for the 2012 Obama presidential campaign. Born and raised in the Bronx, Camille earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in politics and history from New York University, where she was a Presidential Scholar. She serves on the National Action Network board and is a trustee for the Citizens Budget Commission of New York City.

Patricia Estrada Martin
Senior VP, Service Assurance, Cox

Patricia Estrada Martin oversees the network operations centers (NOCs) and Tier 2 support teams for both residential and Cox Business support models, with an enhanced focus on the customer experience and process governance. She joined Cox Communications in 2005 as a senior manager and has since held numerous positions, such as director of network services in Oklahoma and VP of engineering and operations for Cox’s Northeast team in 2012. In 2015, she joined Cox’s Atlanta team as VP of service assurance, and streamlined the NOC to one operating model in 2017. Martin has led several key initiatives at Cox, including the creation of the first national team of virtual construction estimators and Cox’s first-generation Video Back Office National COE. She resides in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband and four children.

Marcella Milliet Sciorra
VP of Ad Sales & Product Marketing, Spectrum Reach

Marcella Sciorra oversees marketing for all Spectrum Reach products, including local linear advertising inventory, advanced ad products and more. She manages a team of 25 ad-sales and product-marketing professionals who support sales teams in 41 states and nearly 100 designated marketing areas. Prior to joining Spectrum Reach, she managed new business development and spearheaded marketing strategy for global brands, including Unilever and NFL International. She is an alumna of NAMIC’s Executive Leadership Development Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing’s Cable Executive Management program at Harvard University, and the University of Santa Ursula in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She lives in Palisades, New York, with her husband Nick and two children.

Wayne Thompson
VP, Telecoms, Connectivity and Capacity Management, Altice USA

Wayne Thompson oversees voice engineering and operations, voice and data expense management, vendor relationship, contract management and circuits and capacity management for Altice. He is also a board member of the Black Employee Affinity Network. Prior to joining Altice, Thompson owned a telecom and engineering company and worked at Verizon. He earned his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Columbia. Thompson is founder and executive director of Strategic Opportunities Achieving Results (S.O.A.R.!) a nonprofit organization focused on mentorship, scholarship and educational assistance. He also is a board member of Urban League of Long Island, Child Care Council of Nassau and Bethel Christian Church. He is the chief organizer of the Long Island Entrepreneurship Conference.

The Cable TV Industry’s Annual Diversity Week returns to New York this coming week with Women In Cable Telecommunications, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications and the Walter Kaitz Foundation hosting events to highlight the industry’s efforts toward creating more diversity and inclusion both on screen and in the executive suite.

WICT leads things off Monday (Oct. 15) with its annual Leadership Conference. NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group chairman Bonnie Hammer will deliver the opening keynote at the gathering, which bears the theme “The Intersection of Imagination & Activation.”

WICT Gathering Leads Off

Highlights of the conference include Monday’s Touchstones Luncheon, in which WICT will honor its 2018 Women of the Year: Italia Commisso Weinand, executive vice president of programming and human resources for Mediacom Communications, and Mary Campbell, chief merchandising and interactive officer, Qurate Retail Group. (All three events cited here are at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.)

Author and journalist Joanne Lipman will provide the keynote address on Oct. 16 based on her book, That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together.

WICT will also bring back its “Pearls of Wisdom” series of mini-keynotes delivered by influential female executives, including Michelle Gadsden-Williams, managing director, inclusion and diversity lead, North America, Accenture; Roma Khanna, CEO of Revolt Media and TV; Matt Abrahams, lecturer, organizational behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business and co-founder, BoldEcho LLC; Francesca Gino, professor of business administration, Harvard Business School; and Masih Alinejad-Ghomi, journalist and author of The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran.

The two-day, 32nd annual NAMIC Conference begins on Tuesday (Oct. 16), with the theme “Empower Leaders, Create Super Heroes.” Led by Shuanise Washington, the organization’s newly named president, and NAMIC Conference co-chairs Italia Commisso Weinand and TV One general manager Michelle Rice, the conference’s numerous panels and events will offer insight towards the industry’s efforts to advance greater inclusion and diversity.

The conference will open with a keynote address from CNN anchor Don Lemon and will close with the organization’s annual awards luncheon Wednesday (Oct. 17). BET Networks chairman and CEO emeritus Debra Lee will receive NAMIC’s Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award.

The conference will also feature the L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program Luncheon. Presented in partnership with WICT and sponsored by the Walter Kaitz Foundation, the program will feature John Kobara, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the California Community Foundation.

During last year’s Diversity Week, NAMIC and WICT teamed to present reports on workforce diversity for women and minorities. While the next report is not set until 2019, WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan said the week’s events put cable in a positive light relative to its diversity goals and initiatives.

“Our industry can teach other business sectors a thing or two about workplace diversity and inclusion,” Brennan said. “Not only does cable allow WICT and NAMIC to measure its workforce diversity, we set aside a full week to convene our stakeholders to share best practices. I know of no other business that does that.”

Kaitz Dinner Is Centerpiece

Diversity Week’s centerpiece is the 35th annual Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner on Wednesday (Oct. 17). The Kaitz dinner raises funds to support media and telecommunications industry diversity groups. The 2017 dinner raised more than $1.6 million. Under the theme “Diversity Through the Decades,” the dinner will celebrate African-American-targeted cable network TV One as 2018 Diversity Champion and the Boys & Girls Club of America as Diversity Advocate.

“These two organizations epitomize the Walter Kaitz Foundation’s belief that a demonstrated commitment to enhance diversity and inclusion can be achieved in groundbreaking and innovative ways across all organizations,” Michelle Ray, the newly named executive director of the Walter Kaitz Foundation, said. “This 35th anniversary milestone offers our industry a unique opportunity to reflect upon the work we’ve all done to make diversity and inclusion one of the cornerstones of our industry while we chart a course for the future.”

TV One’s Michelle Rice, a former Kaitz fellow, told Multichannel News that her network is honored to be recognized by the Kaitz Foundation for contributing to diversity and inclusion on television.

“When we launched in 2004, there was only BET in the marketplace, and people then were questioning whether there needed to be another black network,” Rice said. “Now, if you look at the proliferation of black content across the platform, we know the answer to that question as the industry now understands the value of this audience, and we believe that we had a lot to do with that.”

Diversity and inclusion was spotlighted during the annual Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner, which raised more than $1.6 million on Sept. 27 to support the industry’s diversity initiatives.

One of the brightest lights during the festivities was hip-hop mogul/entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs, who exemplifies what diversity and inclusion looks like for the industry, as well as how far it still needs to travel to reach its goals.

Yes, the industry should be applauded for the positive results generated from the bi-annual WICT PAR and NAMIC AIM employment surveys, which showed that women and people of color continue to hold more top-level positions in greater percentages than in previous years. But Diddy reminded attendees that the hard work is not over.

While he didn’t waste an opportunity to tout his music-themed Revolt TV network in front of a captured crowd of MVPD executives — “This is like a dream come true, I’ve been trying to get meetings with all of y'all,” he declared — he wasn’t there to do a hard sales pitch. Instead he spoke poignantly about his own climb up the corporate ladder, from being raised by a single mother who emphasized a strong work ethic, to honing his entrepreneurial skills though hustling to get a paper route at age 12 even though he was too young to work, to eventually becoming one of the most successful entertainment moguls.

He lamented not seeing positive African-American images on television growing up. “These images really affected me, just like they affect millions of kids out there now who don’t feel they have a position or a voice because of the lack of diversity in films, media, network ownership and also distribution,” he said.

Indeed, Diddy is one of an embarrassingly few number of people of color who own media properties. Such individuals would have a major say in what images and stories appear on the screen, as well as who’s telling those stories behind the camera. Diddy challenged the industry to do better.

“I’ve been blessed with a lot of success, but I would be lying to you if I told you that we have enough diversity within the cable industry.” he said. “True diversity is having a fair and equal chance to compete. This is not about charity but about opportunity.”

Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for The Walter Kaitz Foundation

While cable is making positive strides with regard to hiring women and people of color for executive positions, an increase in the employee turnover rate – with many employees migrating to OTT and new media companies – must be addressed to keep future leaders within the industry, executives said during a Town Hall meeting Tuesday morning in New York. 

The Town Hall session featured the unveiling of the Women in Cable Telecommunications's PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey and and the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications’s AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) Workforce Study, which revealed increased percentages of women and people of color in executive positions since the last surveys in 2015.

Executives speaking at the Town Hall meeting said the challenge will be to continue those gains within an industry that’s also focused on evolving to better serve its customers and remain competitive against digital companies.

RELATED: WICT, NAMIC Surveys: Women, People of Color Make Gains at Senior Management, Executive Level

“In that [competitive] space there’s a lot of distraction, so making sure that we maintain diversity and inclusion in the forefront so we don’t experience slippage in our progress is a challenge,” ESPN vice president of diversity, inclusion and wellness Monica Diaz said. “The key is to make it part of the disruption that we want to get done.”

Comcast senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer David Cohen added that extending the commitment to diversity and inclusion beyond the human resources department and into a company’s full business operations is critical for success.

“When you define diversity that widely, it's actually easier to get executive and employee buy-in to the value of diversity as a business imperative,” Cohen said.

Related: New York Backs TV Production Tax Break for Hiring Diverse Writers, Directors

To attract and retain talent, Cox Communications executive vice president and chief human resources officer Karen Bennett said it's important for companies to positively project an image of inclusiveness for current and prospective employees to see.

“A lot of this starts with putting your image out there of who you are and then representing that to those who have joined the company so that they stay,” Bennett said.

Cohen added that millennials in particular value diversity and will be drawn more toward companies that foster inclusion and diversity.

“We are more diverse than Silicon Valley and the tech industry, and that gives us a competitive advantage in attracting millennials who would otherwise be inclined to go to tech companies.,” he said.

Related: Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative Paves Way for Women and Minority Directors

Once they get women and people of color in the door, the industry has struggled to keep them within the cable ranks. The turnover rate for women is higher than for men at all levels, while the turnover rate for people of color is higher than their white counterparts, according to the WICT and NAMIC surveys.

Yet Adria Alpert Romm, chief HR and global diversity officer at Discovery Communications, said that even if women and people of color leave the industry, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t return at some point in their careers.

“If we do a great job of bringing talent into our expanded cable industry, and then they’re picked off by the Facebooks of the world, I don’t think that’s bad,” said Romm. “I think the key thing is that everyone – Hulu, Facebook, Netflix, etc. – learn from the cable industry and bring diversity into those organizations. Then the flow of candidates will move [back and forth], which is good for the industry.”

Related: NAMIC’s Annual Awards Now a Rite of Fall

Several executives pointed to the low number of companies actually participating in the PAR and AIM surveys. Only 24 of 80 companies contacted actually partook in the surveys, although that number represented some 67.5% of the total cable workforce.

“[The survey findings] are probably the result of a few [cable companies] that are carrying the perspective or perception of stronger diversity than there might actually be,” said Rhonda Crichlow, senior vice president and chief diversity officer for Charter Communications. “I can’t understand why the participation rate is so low… From my perspective as an industry, we might have more work to do in terms of helping people understand the importance of the work we want to do in terms of diversity and inclusion.”

The unveiling of WICT and NAMIC’s biannual diversity employment survey for the cable industry highlights the industry’s annual Diversity Week festivities kicking off today (Sept. 25).

The week’s festivities — which will include Women in Cable Telecommunications’ daylong Leadership Conference and Touchstones Luncheon today, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications’ s 31st Annual Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the annual Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner Wednesday evening — will be highlighted by a Tuesday morning Town Hall announcing the results of WICT’s PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey and NAMIC’s AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) AIM-PAR Workforce Survey. That research is geared to help companies determine the factors that influence the industry’s ability to recruit, retain and advance its workforce.

Related:NAMIC’s Annual Awards Now a Rite of Fall

Diversity advocates are hoping to build on results in the last report in 2015 that indicated modest increases for females and people of color in executives and senior-level managers, but declines in the number of full time female employees and promotion rates for people of color compared to the 2013 NAMIC AIM report.

Other key Diversity Week events include:

WICT Leadership Conference
Journalist and author Katie Couric will open the annual WICT Leadership Conference, which will feature as its theme “Level Up. Focus Forward,” WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan said.

“We’ve seen so much of the industry evolving over the last two or three years, and part of that evolution is ensuring that the women inside of our universe remain focused,” Brennan said. “We want to make sure women continue to advance, that they are leveling up and they are focusing forward for the good of themselves as well as the good of their organization and the industry.”

Actress, producer and director Trudie Styler will deliver keynote remarks at the organization’s Touchstones Luncheon, which will honor the 2017 Women of the Year, BBC America president and general manager Sarah Barnett and Comcast executive vice president and chief communications officer D’Arcy Rudnay.

Gretchen Carlson, the TV journalist and women’s empowerment advocate, will open the second day of the conference with a keynote based on her new book, Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back. The conference will conclude with the WICT’s “Pearls of Wisdom” series of mini-keynotes.

31st Annual NAMIC Conference
The theme for NAMIC’s annual conference is “Diversity at the Speed of Change,” which reflects and captures the rapid innovation and change that has been going on in the cable business, according to NAMIC president Eglon Simons.

“While we look at all the different changes and things that are going on within the industry, we can talk about diversity, advocacy and inclusion because that never goes away,” he said. “The conference brings a confluence of people — young and old — that must have their appetites and their knowledge expanded.”

Veteran journalist John Quiñones, host of What Would You Do?, will serve as the keynote speaker for the two-day conference, which will be highlighted by an impressive roster of industry business leaders and experts.

The conference will culminate with NAMIC Awards Luncheon, which will feature the organization’s 2017 Next Generation Leaders Awards. Also during the luncheon NAMIC will honor U.S. Tennis Association CEO and president Katrina Adams with the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award.

The Walter Kaitz Foundation Dinner
The 34th annual Walter Kaitz Foundation Dinner, which helps fund diversity-themed programs and organizations within the cable industry, will look to best last year’s fundraising mark of more than $1.7 million. To keep things lively, the dinner will feature appearances by Sean “P Diddy” Combs and Insecure co-star Yvonne Orji, according to foundation officials.

HBO will be honored as the foundation’s Diversity Champion, an award given to organizations that act as catalysts for diversity throughout the cable industry.

Girls Who Code will receive the Diversity Advocate Award, presented to an organization outside of the cable industry that has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to diversity.

As the cable industry jumps full steam into this year’s Diversity Week festivities, Sunday’s Emmy Awards shined a spotlight on TV’s on-screen diversity that won’t soon be diminished.

Heading into Sunday night’s primetime Emmy Awards telecast, the TV Academy had honored actors, directors and writers of color with a record 21 Emmy Award nominations, and ended up showering many of those nominees with Emmy statuettes.

Related:NAMIC, WICT, Kaitz Team for Diversity

Along with all of the Emmy winners, we should applaud the TV Academy’s recognition of the contributions and performances of people of color. 

From actor Rami Malek -- the first actor of color since Andre Braugher in 1998 to win the Emmy Award for best leading actor in a drama series – to writers Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari, who snared Emmys for best comedy writing for their Netflix series Masters of None; to Regina King, who repeated as an Emmy winner for supporting actress in a limited series; to Emmy winners Sterling K. Brown and Courtney B. Vance from the Emmy-winning limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson, Sunday night’s ceremony proved that given the opportunity, people of color can produce award-winning content.

Yet there’s still work to be done on the TV’s diversity front.

Despite representing 40% of the U.S. population and overindexing on time spent watching TV content on a weekly basis across several distribution platforms, people of color still only represented 8% of all lead roles on scripted broadcast television shows and 16.6% of cable scripted shows during the 2013-14 TV season, according to UCLA’s 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report.

On the director’s side, people of color and women both made modest year-to-year gains during the 2015-16 television season. Nonetheless, people of color directed just 19% of the more than 4,000 episodes of broadcast and cable shows developed during the period, according to the Directors Guild of America’s 2015-16 Episodic Television Diversity Report. Women -- who comprise more than 50% of the U.S. population -- directed only 17% of those episodes (and two were recognized with Emmys Sunday night: Jill Soloway, best director of a comedy series for Amazon's Transparent, and Susanne Bier, best director of a limited series for AMC's The Night Manager).

No doubt the needle is moving in the right direction for diversity in the television industry. The discussion however, needs to continue, as it will this week during the WICT Leadership Conference, the NAMIC Conference and the Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner, as well as beyond.

NAMIC, WICT and The Walter Kaitz Foundation on Monday (Sept. 19) will partner to offer a panel discussion on the successes and challenges of women of color in business, one of several conversations on inclusion within the cable industry during its annual Diversity Week.

The week’s festivities — which will include Women in Cable Telecommunications’ day long Leadership Conference and Touchstones Luncheon on Monday, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications’ 30th annual conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the annual Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner Wednesday evening — will be highlighted by a Monday afternoon, jointly presented general session titled “Leadership Lessons for Women of Color.”

The event will feature some of the industry’s top female executives providing insights and strategies on how to transcend the challenges facing women of color in the workforce and make it to the top of their respective fields, according to the organizations. Slated to appear: Monica Diaz, vice president of diversity, inclusion and wellness at ESPN; Tamara Franklin, executive vice president of digital for Scripps Networks Interactive; Susan Jin Davis, senior vice president of operations and compliance for Comcast; and Michelle Rice, executive vice president of content distribution and marketing for TV One.

Dr. Ella Bell, associate professor of business administration at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business and founder of nonprofit organization ASCENT-Leading Multicultural Women to the Top, will moderate the panel, which will provide a strong, informative kickoff to the rest of the Diversity Week activites, Maria Brennan, president and CEO of WICT, said.

“We will be presenting a perspective from women of color and looking at what are the common denominators of these powerhouse women in the industry who have really overcome the statistics and really risen through the ranks inside the media world,” Brennan said.

Overall, executives from WICT, NAMIC and Kaitz said that the industry’s focus on diversity during and beyond this week continues to make good business sense as its subscriber base becomes more diverse.

“Whenever we talk about diversity we couple it with inclusion because there’s nothing inside of the research that says diversity and inclusion is bad for business,” Brennan said. “It’s quite the opposite — if you ignore the research and the data, you would be doing so at your own risk and probably at your own peril.”

Added Kaitz Foundation executive director David Porter, “Diversity Week is a critical industry effort that allows us to recognize excellence while fostering leadership development and networking opportunities for our employees.”

Here are some of the highlights of Diversity Week:

WICT Leadership Conference: Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner Kersee and Comcast Corp. senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer David Cohen will be the guest speakers at the opening general session of the conference, which will feature several keynote speeches, master classes, talks, interactive roundtables and think tank discussions.

“What’s unique about the Leadership Conference is that we deliver the teaching in many different learning platforms, and we do that because everyone learns differently,” Brennan said. “By breaking up the formatting and the content, we have the best chance of ensuring that people assimilate the information and it sticks with them.”

The Leadership Conference’s tent-pole event, The Touchstones Luncheon, will feature as its keynote speaker Danai Guira, co-star of AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead. During the luncheon, WICT will honor Kathleen Finch, Scripps Networks Interactive chief programming, content and brand officer, as its Woman of The Year. The organization will also highlight its Women to Watch honorees, Laura Gentile, ESPN’s senior vice president of espnW and Women’s Initiatives, and Mary McLaughlin, Comcast Cable’s senior vice president for the Beltway region.

NAMIC Conference: NAMIC will field a star-studded lineup of speakers for its conference. The two-day event will kick off Sept. 20 with a general session keynote address delivered by Reggie Love, former assistant to President Barack Obama, NAMIC said.

ABC News’ 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas will be the special guest speaker for NAMIC’s 2016 L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program Luncheon, in partnership with WICT and Kaitz.

Music industry icon and New Edition/Bel Biv Devoe member Michael Bivins will discuss his career and BET’s upcoming New Edition biographical miniseries during the conference’s Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards presentation, according to NAMIC.

In between the high-profile keynoters, the conference’s theme, “Diversity 3.0: Innovation Through Inclusion,” will be executed through sessions aligned with three educational tracks of Business Solutions, Leading and Learning, and Content and Imagery, said the network.

“NAMIC is honored to present such a distinguished line-up of speakers and session facilitators. Our sincere thanks is extended to this year’s planning committee co-chairs and all of the sponsors that have provided support for this milestone 30th anniversary conference,” said Eglon Simons, NAMIC president and CEO.

Kaitz Foundation Dinner: Inclusion, impact and inspiration are the themes for Kaitz’s Sept. 21 annual fundraising dinner, which is on track to raise more than $1.6 million to fund diversity-themed programs and organizations within the cable industry. CNN’s Weekend Edition anchor Fredricka Whitfield will host the gala, which will feature on-stage appearances from dinner co-chairs John Martin, Turner chairman and CEO, and Tom Rutledge, Charter Communications chairman and CEO, as well as Michael Powell, CEO of the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association.

Kaitz will honor A+E Networks with its Diversity Champion Award and The National Association of Latino Independent Producers with its Diversity Advocate Award, Porter said.

The cable industry has seen an increase in the percentage of women and people of color in management and senior level positions, according to new employment studies from Women in Cable Telecommunications and NAMIC.

The results of WICT's PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communication AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) report also warned of increased turnover rates that, if not addressed, could cut into management gains for both women and people of color.

The findings of the two surveys were revealed during a joint WICT and NAMIC town hall meeting Tuesday morning (Sept. 29) in New York.

The PAR survey reported that the percentage of female executives and senior-level managers increased by 4% since the last PAR report in 2013. Promotion rates in the manager and executive/senior manager levels were higher for women than for men, according to the survey.

For people of color, the percentage of executives and senior level managers increased by 1% since the 2013 NAMIC AIM report -- mostly from increases within cable MSOs and programmers, NAMIC officials said.

The number of entry-level and mid-level managers of color increased by a modest 1% since 2013, according to the NAMIC AIM survey.

While women gained in numbers in upper management positions, WICT's PAR report said the actual number of full-time female employees declined by 1% in the past two years. The survey added that an increasing turnover rate projects a decline in the representation of women at the manager level and above over the next five years, according to the survey.

“There is progress in a number of important areas for women; however, there is more work to be done,” WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan said. “The key driver that will significantly enhance representation of women is increased workplace retention. Overall, the survey illustrates the need for WICT and our industry to remain resolute in our commitment to creating more opportunities for women.“

Promotion rates for people of color continued to decline since 2013, and turnover rates remain higher than those of their white counterparts, according to the survey. Most notable are the differences at the executive and senior manager levels, where the promotion rate for white employees is twice that rate for people of color, according to the survey.

"While there is evidence that our industry is committed to increasing multi-ethnic diversity, continued vigilance and commitment will be essential as we move forward,” Eglon Simons, president and CEO of NAMIC, said. “The high rate of turnover and poor rate of promotion being experienced by professionals of color threaten to undermine hard-fought gains.”

The latest scorecard on ethnic and gender diversity at companies in the cable industry is coming this week (Sept. 29) as a centerpiece of the industry’s annual Diversity Week.

Every two years, the Women in Cable Telecommunications PAR (Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities and Resources for Work/Life Integration) initiative and the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) effort do surveys at about two dozen cable-TV providers and programmers. Surveys for the upcoming report were conducted beginning in January.

The surveys released in 2013 found the percentage of women as full-time employees was 34%, down from 39% in 2003 when WICT began its PAR research. The NAMIC AIM research found people of color comprised 38% of the surveyed groups, up 5 percentage points from 2011 – but at the executive or senior level of manager or executive, the percentage had declined to 15% from 19%.

The report from surveys in 2013 noted that people of color were promoted less frequently, and had a higher turnover rate (or left companies) more often than white employees – but concluded that robust hiring, if it continued on the pace seen in 2012 (when the surveys were done), would keep overall minority employment levels at around 25% over the next five years. The new results may shed light on whether that proved true.

The research will be announced and debated at the joint town hall session with industry leaders including National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Michael Powell; Gail Greenfield, PhD, principal, Mercer; Suzanne Malveaux, anchor, CNN;  David Cohen, executive vice president, Comcast; Pat Esser, president, Cox Communications; Mary Meduski, executive vice president & chief financial officer, Suddenlink; Stacy Green, executive vice president, Global Human Resources and Facilities, A+E Networks, and Paul Richardson, senior vice president, HR, ESPN, and chief diversity officer, The Walt Disney Co.

NAMIC’s 29th annual conference will continue throughout the day and into Wednesday, focusing on the continued growth and importance of diversity in an ever changing television industry, NAMIC president Eglon Simons told Multichannel News. Keynote speakers for the conference include legendary television producer Norman Lear; heralded filmmaker Spike Lee and New York Times best-selling author Eddie Huang.

"A sea change is occurring in our industry with the emergence of unscripted content, OTT, TV everywhere and other distribution alternatives,” Simons said. “We are pleased to present a cross-generational roster of diversity champions who are at the forefront of this change, with sessions that will inspire our members and all of the diversity champions in attendance to keep fighting for diversity and seeking opportunities to educate and adapt to evolving business models.”

Spanish language broadcaster Univision will be feted during The Walter Kaitz Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner on Wednesday as the organization’s “Diversity Champion.” Kaitz Foundation executive director David Porter says the program will emphasize and encourage individual action to help further foster diversity within companies.

“If everyone takes one action to have a positive effect on diversity, that collectively will make all the difference in the world,” Porter said. “Whether it’s choosing someone to mentor or taking someone out to lunch that is new to the company and is different in some way from you, one action really does make a difference.”

Kicking off the week on Monday will be WICT’s Leadership Conference, which will feature a lineup of industry leaders and shakers from opening keynote speaker Hoda Kotb, of NBC’s Today, to closing session speakers TV One chairman Alfred Liggins; TLC personality Stacy London; Suddenlink chief programming officer Kathy Payne; HGTV host Egypt Sherrod and FBI agent Joe Navarro.

Filmmaker Leslye Headland will be the featured guest at WICT’s sold-out Touchstones Luncheon, which also honors Woman of the Year Ellen East (Time Warner Cable) and two Women to Watch, Bernadette Aulestia (HBO) and Rachel Welch (Time Warner Cable).

“Our goal for the WICT Leadership Conference and all Diversity Week activities—as always—is to educate and increase the pipeline of women leaders in the cable industry,” WICT CEO Maria Brennan said. “Given the anticipated audience and the superlative program our conference committee has put forward, we believe we will achieve that goal.”

NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) said Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Spike Lee has joined the roster of speakers set for the 29th Annual NAMIC Conference. A two-day symposium held in conjunction with the television industry's Diversity Week, the NAMIC Conference will take place Sept. 29-30 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. Lee's keynote presentation will highlight the NAMIC Conference general session scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30. 

“For more than two decades, Spike Lee has demonstrated his commitment to advocating for  diversity on screen and behind the camera," Eglon E. Simons, president and CEO of NAMIC, said in a release. "An icon within the entertainment industry, NAMIC is honored to have Mr. Lee share his insight and vast experience at this year's conference." 

From the NAMIC statement: One of the most celebrated multi-hyphenate storytellers of all-time, Lee is a director, writer, producer, actor, author and educator. A forerunner in the ‘Do It Yourself’ school of independent film, Lee's first feature, She's Gotta Have It, shot on just $175,000, grossed more than $7 million at the box office. Lee has since produced and directed countless movies -- or, as they're known in the vernacular, "Spike Lee Joints." Lee's extensive resume includes box office successes such as Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, School Daze, Malcolm X, Summer of Sam, Crooklyn, He Got Game, Inside Man, Miracle at St. Anna, Red Hook Summer and When the Levees Broke, the Peabody award-winning HBO documentary on Hurricane Katrina. In keeping with his commitment to independent filmmaking, Lee recently finished his Kickstarter funded Da Blood of Sweet Jesus. Prior to this, was the release of  the reinterpretation of the Korean psychological thriller Oldboy and Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth, a videotaping of Mike Tyson’s Broadway show. Lee's next feature, Chiraq, is scheduled for release later this year. An award-winning filmmaker recognized by numerous industry organizations and film festivals, Lee earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1990 for Do The Right Thing. Lee received a second Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, Features, for 4 Little Girls, the critically-acclaimed documentary of the civil rights era bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Ala. Lee was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a 2015 Governors Award. Currently, Lee serves as the artistic director of the graduate film program at NYU. 

Time Warner Cable is the presenting sponsor of the 29th Annual NAMIC Conference. Additional sponsors include AMC Networks, ARRIS, Asia TV USA LTD, Centric, Centris Marketing Science, Comcast, Cox Communications, Fox Deportes, NBCUniversal, NCTA, REVOLT, Scripps Networks Interactive, Turner Broadcasting System and TV One.

Online registration can be accessed by visiting http://www.namic.com. Diversity Week events also include the WICT Leadership Conference, and the centerpiece is the 32d annual Walter Kaitz Foundation Fundraising Dinner.