Dish Network has announced the hire of Suma Nallapati as senior VP and chief digital officer, reporting to recently appointed CIO Atilla Tinic.

Englewood, Colo.-based Dish didn’t have to look far—Nallapati currently works in the cabinet of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper as secretary of technology and State CIO.

Prior to joining Hickenlooper’s cabinet in 2014, Nallapati served as associate VP of service delivery at Catholic Health Initiatives. She also previously worked at TeleTech as global director of enterprise applications. 

Notably, Nallapati began her career as a software programmer for Dish back in 1997. Profile has come from recent awards: She was named “CIO of the Year” earlier this month by the Colorado Technology Association. Nallapati was also named a 2017 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado honoree by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Related: Dish Names Former CenturyLink Exec Tinic CIO

“Suma’s mission is to ensure Dish is well positioned with the applications and platforms that deliver a best-in-class customer and employee experience for our current businesses, and set the stage for our future wireless business,” said John Swieringa, executive VP and chief operating officer for Dish.

Tinic and Nallapati were both hired after a flurry of recent executive departures from Dish, including Vivek Khemka, executive vice president and chief technology officer, who joined Liberty Global in September. 

Dish Network has hired former CenturyLink executive Atilla Tinic as senior VP and chief information officer.

Tinic, who held a similar title at Level 3 Communications when CenturyLink acquired it last year, will replace Rob Dravenstott, who quietly left Dish in August to join Chicago-based IoT company Cooler Screens.

At Dish, Tinic will lead IT strategy and operations for Dish TV, Sling TV and the wireless groups. The Denver resident will stay close to home, working out of Dish’s Englewood, Colo. headquarters.

He’ll report to Dish chief operating officer John Swieringa

"Atilla has proven that he can lead technology organizations that deliver innovation, plus he possesses that sense of adventure we look for in a leader," said Swieringa, in a statement. "His track record of business partnership will serve our enterprise today, as well as our future wireless business."

Centennial, Co.-based vendor Evolution Digital has announced the hiring of former WideOpenWest executive Cash Hagen as chief operating officer.

Starting Oct. 1, Hagen will oversee Evolution Digital’s expansion of its IP-based video and broadband technology solutions for cable operators, reporting directly to CEO Chris Egan.

Hagen quietly departed as WOW’s COO in May, as the operator’s CEO, Teresa Elder continued to shake up upper management and build out her team. He had served as CTO for WOW from 2008-2016.

Related: Evolution Digital Launches Android TV-Based Box for MVPDs

“Cash’s experience as a senior executive at a large broadband and pay-TV provider is invaluable to Evolution Digital in this next stage of transitioning operators to IP video delivery and continued acceleration of broadband growth,” said Egan, in a statement. “He has proven to be a successful and trusted leader with a strong reputation for driving growth, enhancing profitability and efficiency while delivering long-term value for cable and telecommunications providers. I have unwavering confidence in Cash’s ability to build on Evolution Digital’s many competitive advantages.”

It’s the latest top-level management move for Evolution Digital, which in August made two key promotions, naming VP of engineering Panneer Ramalingam its new chief technology officer, while incumbent CTO Brent Smith moved to the newly created role of chief strategy officer.

Ruckus Networks has announced the promotion of Bart Giordano to senior VP of worldwide sales.

Giordano has served as a sales executive for Ruckus since August 2015, through the purchase of the company by Brocade, as well was the subsequent acquisition of by current owner Arris.

Related: New Ruckus Networks Chief Plans to Stay the Course

He’s replacing Ian Whiting, who was promoted to the Ruckus president position in June, after the departure of Dan Rabinovitsj, who is now in a VP-level position at Facebook.

In Ruckus’ top sales job, Giordano will report to Whiting and oversee revenue, gross margin and all aspects of the company’s go-to-market activities.

“Since joining Ruckus Networks three years ago, Bart Giordano has built a top-notch global sales team,” said Whiting, in a statement. “Bart’s been responsible for growing revenue and market share through strategic partners and verticals, and his team has secured major design wins with Google, Facebook, IBM, and Lenovo. We look forward to the continued opportunities that Bart and his team will bring to our business and our partners.”

Arris credits Giordano with establishing the cloud services practice for Ruckus’ software-as-a-service portfolio. During the first half of 2018, Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi has been one fo the company’s fastest growing products, expanding internationally.

“Moving ahead, I look forward to leading a world-class organization to sell our industry-leading products and services alongside our channel partners. We’ll continue our focus to expand core vertical segments and deliver solutions that result in positive business outcomes for our customers,’ Giordano added. 

Arris announced that veteran IT executive Karen Renner will be its new chief information officer, replacing Phil Baldock, who quietly left the company last month to join POS terminal technology vendor Verifone.

Renner arrives from global defense contractor Thales, where she served as North American CIO since May 2017. Before that, she held CIO positions at aluminum producer Novelis from 2010-2016, and at General Electronic from 2005-2010.

She’ll report directly to Arris CEO Bruce McClelland, working out of Arris’ Suwanee, Georgia headquarters.

"Karen Renner is a firm believer in building the culture, capacity, and capability of the IT team to take full advantage of digital opportunities that help drive business results," McClelland said in a statement. “Arris will look to Karen to strengthen our IT program in pursuit of our next stage of growth.”

Added Renner: ”What drew me to Arris is its focus on transforming the way people connect in our digital world. I look forward to refining that focus through our IT program as part of the Arris executive leadership team.”

Baldock joined Arris in 2016 amid the Pace acquisition. 

After a two-month search, Netflix has filled its top corporate communications position, hiring away Facebook’s top PR executive, Rachel Whetstone.

Whetstone replaces Jonathan Friedland, a former Disney executive and seven-year Netflix veteran who was fired under very transparent circumstances back in June for what the company described as inappropriate language choices.

If the top streaming service is a hotbed for drama, also factoring in the conspicuous exit of House of Cards star Kevin Spacey last year, Whetstone seems to have the career experience to weather the storm.

In recent months, of course, her plate has been full managing PR issues including Facebook’s growing reputation as a global privacy scourge, not to mention accusations that it’s letting itself be used as a tool for Russian election influence.

Whetstone’s resume also includes stops at Uber, where she worked for founder and ousted CEO Travis Kalanick, and Google.

As for Friedland, he was very publicly let go in June, with Netflix CEO describing the PR executive’s use of racial language … in meetings about the use of racial language.

“I’ve made a decision to let go of Jonathan Friedland. Jonathan contributed greatly in many areas, but his descriptive use of the N-word on at least two occasions at work showed unacceptably low racial awareness and sensitivity, and is not in line with our values as a company,” Hastings wrote in a widely distributed company memo.

"I'm leaving Netflix after seven years," said Friedland, responding in a statement. ”Leaders have to be beyond reproach in the example we set and unfortunately I fell short of that standard when I was insensitive in speaking to my team about words that offend in comedy. I feel awful about the distress this lapse caused to people at a company I love and where I want everyone to feel included and appreciated. I feel honored to have built a brilliant and diverse global team and to have been part of this collective adventure in building the world's leading entertainment service."

Vivek Khemka has become the latest top executive at Dish Network to leave the company, with Liberty Latin America announcing Tuesday that he’s slated to become the company's new chief technology officer, starting next month.

The Carnegie Mellon-schooled engineer cut his teeth at Motorola before joining Dish in November 2011. Appointed to the CTO role in 2015, Khemka has been the public face for most of Dish's product rollouts recently, including all innovations tied to the Hopper video platform.

Related: Dish CFO Swain Steps Down

He joins former CFO Steve Swain, who announced last week that he was leaving Englewood, Colo.-based Dish to join retirement community operator Brookdale Senior Living.

A year ago, Roger Lynch, who headed Dish’s virtual MVPD, Sling TV, left to become CEO of Pandora.

Khemka also joins former TiVo CEO Enrique Rodriguez as the second high-profile U.S. pay TV executive in recent weeks to join Liberty—Rodriguez stepped down in July to become CTO of the broader Liberty Global empire.

Khemka will now lead Liberty Latin America’s Technology & Innovation (T&I) team across Liberty Global’s operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The newly established global technology position was created to drive the IT, product development, and network platforms across more than 40 markets, serving more than 2.7 million customers.

“Vivek will play a key role in the continued development of Liberty Latin America’s future technology leadership, strategy, and vision,’ said Balan Nair, CEO of Liberty Latin America in a statement. “I am confident that Vivek will be successful in leading our technology function unlocking growth opportunities as we continue to invest in our customers through network expansion, new products, and enhanced experiences. This position is important to our business strategy with technology being one of the foundations to our success. He shares our ambitions for commitment in innovation and operational excellence, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team. Vivek will report to me and will work closely with our executive management team to drive innovation and explore new business and technologies.”

Added Khemka: “I am thrilled to be joining the team. Liberty Latin America presents one of the few growth opportunities in the industry and I am looking forward to working with an extremely passionate and talented team to build a best in class product portfolio and bring innovation and new products and services to our customers to grow the business.”

Dish, which signaled Khemka’s departure in an 8-K filing with the SEC, has yet to announce a replacement for its departing CTO.

The company has seen rapid erosion of its core satellite TV platform as it has acquired wireless spectrum and mulled plans to build a virtualized 5G network from scratch. 

Adding to the turmoil at Viacom, ad-sales chief Jeff Lucas is leaving the company.

Viacom named Sean Moran, a 21-year veteran of the company, as a replacement for Lucas, who was widely reported to be going to Snapchat once Viacom was done with the upfront.

Moran, who had been executive vice president of national brand sales, will report to Tom Dooley, Viacom's chief operating officer.

“Viacom has the industry's best sales organization, earning the highest regard from its partners by every measure — experience, innovation, creativity, and ability to deliver,” Dooley said. "Sean is the right leader to guide this group to new heights. He has been a standout performer with Viacom and his knowledge of our business and the advertising marketplace is unsurpassed."

For more of this story, please visit broadcastingcable.com.

Disney/ABC Television Group is taking its approach to digital content and analytics to the next level, tapping two top executives in the retail and online communities – former Walmart executive Cindy Davis and AOL veteran John Frelinghuysen -- for newly created roles aimed at beefing up its digital presence.

Both Davis and Frelinghuysen will report to Disney Media Networks co-chairman and Disney/ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood.

Davis, a long-time Walmart executive, has been named Disney/ABC’s executive vice president, consumer experience, and will be responsible for improving existing research capabilities across multiple platforms and enhancing Disney’s consumer insights and analytic capabilities to support our business strategies.

She also will be responsible for developing an overall consumer experience strategy that will provide greater personalization and product opportunities across platforms, enhance the MVPD ecosystem, support marketing efforts, and inform advertising and other revenue opportunities. Davis will also help define and shape Disney's shift to a more programming services and consumer-centric business model, the company said.

Frelinghuysen was named executive vice president, digital media, strategy and business development, and will oversee all aspects of strategy and business development across Disney/ABC Television’s portfolio of content and brands for digital content, products and technology and all mobile platform efforts. 

He is charged with defining and executing plans to effectively monetize both new and existing short-form and long-form content and distribution across multiple screens and platforms. Frelinghuysen will also work closely with business unit presidents to enable the implementation of their initiatives.

 “These two dynamic new leaders bring considerable talent and experience to Disney/ABC that will help drive our business forward and position us for even greater success,” Sherwood said in a statement. “I’ve asked Cindy to significantly expand our capability to understand our audience and help us use these new insights to improve the consumer experience on all platforms. John’s mission is to define and execute plans to monetize both new and existing content, as well as to harness the power of the collective Disney/ABC portfolio into a more unified and holistic consumer experience.

“We have an incredible team here at Disney/ABC, made up of some of the best and brightest in the industry," Sherwood added. "I’m delighted Cindy and John are joining us, and am confident that they will help lead us to even greater heights.”

Davis most recently served as executive vice president, global customer insights and analytics, for Walmart, a position she had held since 2011. While at Walmart she established a Center of Excellence for Customer Insights & Analytics that integrated sales data, customer surveys, social signals and analytics to predict customer needs and created the Customer Knowledge Platform that became the foundation for understanding customers across channels and serving them seamlessly and relevantly. She also re-introduced Syndicated Data into Walmart and Sam’s Club to provide a marketplace view of customer and competitive behavior, driving significant sales and market share growth.

Prior to her Walmart tenure Davis served as executive vice president, membership, marketing and eCommerce, for Sam’s Club for four years, after a stint as president of global development and communications at direct marketer Rapp Collins Worldwide.

“I can’t imagine a better company to be joining than Disney/ABC Television or a better time to be joining this team,” Davis said in a statement. “Combining a deeper understanding of today’s viewers with its legacy of brilliant storytelling, Disney/ABC is poised to further engage consumers with the entertainment and news they want, when and where they want to enjoy it. I look forward to helping champion the consumers’ voice within Disney/ABC in a way that drives innovation for viewers and value for the business, our distribution partners, and our shareholders.”

Frelinghuysen has more than 20 years’ experience in digital strategy, most recently serving as senior vice president and head of strategy for AOL, a position he held since 2013. Prior to that, he was a partner at management consulting giant Bain & Co., in the Media, Entertainment and Information practice.

From 1987 to 2007, Frelinghuysen worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, the last three years as Lead Partner and Practice Leader, U.S. Media and Entertainment, and participated in the private equity buyouts of Nielsen and Clear Channel Communications. He also worked closely with cable networks like MTV Networks and BET, helping develop growth strategies, driving ratings improvement and boosting marketing and promotions.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Disney/ABC team,” Frelinghuysen said in a statement. “There is an unprecedented opportunity for creating new content experiences and driving revenue growth in digital video. Disney/ABC's global brands and content assets provide an outstanding platform for innovation and realizing the digital opportunity." 

When it came to compensation, 2014 was another good year for the cable television industry across various disciplines.

The Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association’s (CTHRA) 2014 Annual Compensation Surveys found that the average salary adjustment budget grew 3% across the industry, matching the uptick in 2013.  MSOs increased at a 3% clip, equal to the prior year, while programmer’s added 3.1% to their salary budgets, versus a 2.9% bump the prior year.

However, advances were much greater among those working in technology and digital media. In addition, compensation soared across a number of sales positions.

For their part, executives, especially among MSO leaders, notched sizable incentive grants.

“Rising salaries illustrate the cable industry’s nimble response to changes in the competitive landscape, which includes a fierce battle to attract and retain technology and digital media talent,” said Pamela Williams, CAE, CTHRA’s executive director.

Added Hali Croner, CEO of The Croner Co., which conducted the surveys for CTHRA:  "Cable operators are now competing with more companies for technology talent. The presence of over-the-top companies has upped the game for MSOs seeking to find, recruit and retain top digital talent."

Data for the 2014 survey was gleaned from 65 participating companies -- 16 distributors and 49 programmers – up from 63 in 2013. CTHRA said the participants represented the majority of the industry’s employers, including all 25 of the top national cable channels, all five national broadcast networks, new content providers and seven of the eight largest cable operators, plus DirecTV.

Survey results are industry-specific, providing analysis of pay practices for nearly 150,000 incumbents, including both exempt and non-exempt positions, from technicians to the executive suite.

Read the full press release here.