Four months after announcing a management shakeup, Time Warner Cable Wednesday promoted Sam Howe to chief marketing officer.
Howe succeeds Chuck Ellis, whose resignation was announced in January, along with the departures of vice chairman and chief operating officer John Billock and president Tom Baxter.
Time Warner also announced Wednesday that it was shifting Brian Kelly from its corporate office to its Carolina region, where he’ll serve as regional senior vice president of marketing and sales.
Since August 2003, Howe oversaw marketing for Time Warner’s Digital Phone product as senior VP of marketing for voice services. In his new position, Howe will combine the marketing functions for Time Warner’s video, Road Runner and Digital Phone products, in addition to managing the MSO’s marketing campaigns, retail marketing channels and consumer research.
Time Warner said Howe will also chair its new marketing council, which will consist of regional marketing heads focused on coordinating marketing across the company to deliver consistent, targeted messaging.
After conducting an internal review of its management structure, Time Warner announced the early retirements of Billock and Baxter in January. While Ellis’ resignation was announced on the same day, the company said at the time that his move wasn’t related to the departures of Billock and Baxter.
Time Warner said in January that its internal review recommended the combination of its president and COO positions, which had been previously held respectively by Baxter and Billock. The MSO still hasn’t named an executive to fill the combined position of president and COO.
Howe began working in the cable industry in 1982 at Centel Cable. He later held various positions in finance and marketing at Cox Communications Inc. and worked from 1993-98 at Telewest Communications plc in the United Kingdom, where he gained experience in the telephone and Internet industries.
Howe also worked for Turner Broadcasting System Inc. as senior VP of network sales in 1998 and 1999, and he was executive VP of eTour Inc. from 1999-2001.
