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 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 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 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 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.