Multichannel News Wonder Woman 2007 2006 Winners
CLASS OF 2006
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Shari Anne Brill As vice president and director of programming for Carat USA Inc., a large part of Shari Anne Brill’s job is to analyze and handicap which new shows are going to break out as hits — or flops — each new TV season. She presents her analysis and dissects network strategies in Carat’s Annual New Season Programming Report. Brill also edits and publishes Carat’s Broadcast Beat newsletters. The Queens, New York-native holds a degree in marketing and consumer behavior from Bernard M. Baruch College, and was vice president of broadcast research at The Media Edge before joining Carat in 1999. |
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Louise Henry Bryson After laboring for two years on the ill-fated Olympic Triplecast pay-per-view proposition for the 1992 Summer Games from Barcelona, Bryson embarked on a series of successful ventures. First, she opened the West Coast office for Court TV in 1993, then in the mid-nineties, as senior vice president of affiliate sales and marketing at FX Networks Inc, she was instrumental in launching FX and FXM: Movies. She joined Lifetime in 1999 and has now climbed her way to president of distribution and affiliate business development for Lifetime Entertainment Services and executive vice president and general manager of Lifetime Movie Network. |
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Christine Driessen As executive vice president and chief financial officer at ESPN, Driessen is front and center with executives on rights deals. The Fordham University graduate first encountered ESPN in 1985 while handling most of the entertainment clients for public accounting firm Peat Marwick & Mitchell. Intrigued, she pursued a controller position and was hired by then president Bill Grimes. Twenty years later, Driessen oversees the company’s financial operations and serves as financial advisor on strategic planning and acquisitions, new business ventures and programming initiatives. She also oversees ESPN’s management information services department, and has fiscal responsibilities at sister company ABC Sports. |
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Patricia Gottesman Gottesman got her marketing start pitching soft drinks, light bulbs, and shampoo on TV commercials while earning her communications degree at Hofstra University. She then joined Cablevision Systems Corp. and has been there for the past 27 years. Though Cablevision now focuses operations in the New York tri-state area, Gottesman began at a time when it owned systems around the country, gaining her experience in both Chicago and New York, and in all different departments, including public affairs, franchising, operations, general management and, eventually, marketing. Today, she has risen to executive vice president of product management and marketing. |
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Sue Ann Hamilton As executive vice president of programming for Charter Communications Inc., Hamilton is responsible for all programming contracts signed by the nation’s fourth-largest operator. She’s weathered a lot with the company, including brokerage of a 10-year deal with ESPN; departures of former CEO Maggie Beleville and ex-president Carl Vogel; and the hiring of CEO Neil Smit. Prior to joining Charter in 2003, she was a partner at Denver-based Kirkland & Ellis and worked ten years for Tele-Communications Inc., surviving the takeover by AT&T. She holds a degree in sociology from Carleton College and a law degree from Stanford University. |
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Carol Hevey Despite early studies in biology, Hevey is now a 23-year veteran of Time Warner Cable in its various guises. Her career began in 1982 when she was secretary for then Warner-Amex Cable National Division operations in Ohio. She was staff accountant within three months. Three years later she made business office manager in Lynn, Mass., then general manager, Nashua, N.H. By 1990, Hevey was president of the greater Boston division, followed by stints rolling out voice-over-internet-protocol telephony in Portland, Maine and developing video-on-demand in Milwaukee. Today, she is executive vice president of operations for TWC’s Carolinas region. |
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Kim Martin Hailing from Millegeville, Ga., population 7,000, this Georgia College graduate started out in pharmaceutical sales before earning her masters and joining a fledgling Discovery Channel. Twelve years later, she’d risen to senior vice president of affiliate sales for Discovery Networks, U.S. and Canada. That experience set her up for a transition to executive vice president of distribution and affiliate marketing for AMC, Fuse, The Independent Film Channel, WE, Mag Rack and sportskool. Now, after participating in the Women in Cable & Telecommunications’ Betsy Magness leadership program, Martin is executive vice president and general manager of WE TV. |
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Lori McFarling As senior vice president of distribution and marketing for Discovery Communications Inc., McFarling is responsible for helping manage the company’s accounts with Comcast Corp., DirecTV Inc., EchoStar Communications Corp. and Time Warner Cable. She is a University of Colorado graduate, and joined DCI after stints with Procter & Gamble Co. and C-SPAN. Now, an 18-year company veteran, she has helped launch Animal Planet, which reached 50 million subscribers faster than any other cable network in history, and has reworked TLC by taking the network from 17 million subscribers to more than 30 million in just two years. |
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Christina Norman A Boston University grad, Norman said she stumbled into television as a freelance commercial production assistant in 1985. The New York City native then returned home to produce freelance, which led to a freelance production manager job with VH1, followed by a production manager spot at MTV. After producing promos for Beavis and Butthead, among other series, Norman delved into marketing and was soon overseeing award-winning promotions and affiliate marketing departments. Her two-years as general manager of VH1 led to a promotion from MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath, making Norman the first African-American female president of MTV. |
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Rebecca Scilingo As vice president of integration and deployment for Comcast Corp., Scilingo is responsible for putting new products into operation. She has been involved in the company’s video-on-demand efforts since 2000, when the service was still a fledgling enterprise. Her goal this year has been to close the gap between product development and day-to-day operations, to develop cross-platform features like remote programming of digital video recorders, and negotiate with guide-focused companies such as Comcast’s internal GuideWorks effort, as well as external hardware companies. She holds a Bachelor of Science in communications systems management from Ohio University. |
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Suzanne Scott After graduating American University, and dabbling in law and talent scouting, the New Jersey native became an executive assistant at CNBC and America’s Talking (predecessor to MSNBC). Her mentors over the next few years were TV legends Chet Collier, producer of The Mike Douglas Show; future Fox News CEO Roger Ailes; and America’s Talking VP of programming Beth Tilson. In 1996, Scott followed Ailes to Fox News and spent the next five years working toward producer. In 2003, she was named senior producer of On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, and in 2006 made network executive producer. |
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Cathy Weeden In May 2005, Weeden led the on-air transition from Sunshine Network to Sun Sports, replete with state-of-the-art graphics, new logo and original musical accompaniment. She’d been Sun’s vice president and general manager, and assumed the same role for FSN Florida. In Dec. 2005, Weeden was diagnosed with breast cancer, but was back to work within weeks of her surgery. The University of Central Florida graduate first joined Sunshine in 1990 and rose to assistant general manager in 1996. In 2002, after relocating to head up FSN Arizona, she returned to Florida as VP and GM of Sunshine. |
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