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.  

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.

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. ■

Michelle Ray is exiting as executive director of The Walter Kaitz Foundation, the cable-backed nonprofit effort to advance equity and inclusion in the media and entertainment industry.

Her last day is December 2, so she will still oversee Kaitz’s Annual Fundraising Dinner on October 12 at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel.

The foundation has given out over $23 million in grants toward diversity initiatives.

A search for a successor is underway, NCTA–The Internet & Television Association said, adding that the industry’s commitment to diversity and inclusion “remains strong,” Ray’s departure notwithstanding.

Also: Kaitz Focuses Lens Beyond Hollywood

Ray has been with the foundation for 15 years.

“Michelle has been a true force of nature and her leadership at the Kaitz Foundation has been invaluable to the industry," NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell said. “Her passion and tireless efforts over the years to drive mission-focused diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at NCTA’s member companies have been second to none.”

Ray joined NCTA in 1990 in industry affairs and moved to the foundation in 2006, initially as senior program director. ▪️

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 coronavirus pandemic has altered the makeup of the cable industry’s 2020 Diversity Week festivities as the annual Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner has been canceled and both the WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference will be held online. 

In a joint statement, the three organizations announced that they are “forging ahead with new plans for virtual initiatives” to supplant the Diversity Week festivities that were scheduled for the week of Oct. 4

“The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every event planned for the remainder of 2020, and large group gatherings in major American cities are tightly restricted,” according to the statement.

WICT (partial agenda) and NAMIC will proceed with virtual conferences during the week of Oct. 4, with each organization communicating directly with members and conference participants regarding their plans.

The Walter Kaitz Foundation has canceled its traditional dinner this year as a result of the pandemic, and will “pivot to a major fundraising campaign to support the deliberate work of its grants programs and bridge the fundraising gap caused by the cancellation,” according to the statement.

In March, the T Howard Foundation canceled its diversity fundraising dinner due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

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 Walter Kaitz Foundation’s 35 Annual Kaitz Dinner in New York raised more than $1.4 million Wednesday night to help foster diversity programs throughout the cable industry.

The funds will go to help four organizations supported by Kaitz – The T. Howard Foundation, The Emma L. Bowen Foundation, The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) -- serve as a catalyst to increase diversity in the workforce, in industry programs and in programming.

The dinner, held at the New York Marriott Marquis on Oct. 17, honored TV One as the 2018 Diversity Champion, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America as Diversity Advocate.

“We were determined to shake up the television landscape and we did,” TV One founder and CEO Alfred Liggins said in accepting the Diversity Champion award. “TV One has delivered a unique and authentic voice to African American viewers.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of America CEO Jim Clark said that the organization is a critical resource across the country, providing a safe, inclusive environment for young men and women.

“When you visit a Boys & Girls Club, you are likely to meet children from diverse backgrounds and circumstances,” Clark said. “…At Boys & Girls Clubs, we believe every kid has what it takes.”

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association CEO Michael Powell took that a step further, adding in his speech that in today’s era of identity politics and anti-intellectualism, it is more important than ever to ensure that diverse voices are heard.

“A commitment to multi-cultural democracy, integrated schools and a diverse workplace is not a social justice course at Yale or politically correct beliefs,” Powell said. “It is the only aspiration that embraces a vision of social government and the economy that includes all of us.”

And he stressed that it is up to businesses to lead the diversity charge.

“Anti-intellectualism is dangerous because it serves as a subtle sickle for cutting down the rising prospects of the poor, the middle class aspirations of blacks and Latinos, and the glass ceiling smashing goals of young girls,” Powell said. “This is why we desperately need corporate America to remain resolutely committed to multicultural work forces where merit still counts for not just something, for everything. We need business leaders who pride talent, skill and expertise and we need professional environments where facts remain arbiters of truth and where knowledge is celebrated.

“Many industries do fail at diversity, despite their self interest, but our industry is not one of them,” Powell continued. “We do not shrink from our commitment to diversity. Our industry recognizes that its own prosperity depends on inclusion and maybe more importantly, it fundamentally understands the future prospects of America depend on it as well.”

Kaitz Foundation executive director Michelle Ray praised her predecessor David Porter as well as other diversity-focused organizations like NAMIC and WICT, for moving diversity initiatives forward across the industry

“We’re really here because diversity maters,” Way said. “It has mattered for the last 35 years and it will always matter. The evidence of this is reflected back in the faces and the stories of those whose lives and careers have been impacted by the industry’s unwavering commitment to these ideals.”

The Dinner was co-chaired by Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson and AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan.  The next dinner will be held on Sept. 18, 2019.

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.”

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.