The Faces of Cox

Patrick Esser, President and CEO: Joined Cox in 1979 as director of programming in Hampton Roads, Va., and moved steadily up the ranks, serving stints in advertising sales and field operations (he headed the Western Division in 1999) before being named executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2004 and CEO in 2006. Since then Cox has continued to lead the industry in customer service, consistently finishing at the top of J.D. Power & Associates customer service surveys. Esser serves as vice chair of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and serves on the board of directors of C-SPAN, Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing educational foundation, CableLabs and Cable in the Classroom. In 2007, Esser was recognized as Multichannel News’ first Executive of the Year.

Leo Brennan, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer: A longtime field executive, Brennan moved to corporate in 2008 and is responsible for overseeing the company’s day-to-day operations and ensuring companywide alignment with competitive strategies to enhance marketplace execution and grow the company’s 6.2 million residential and commercial customers. He provides leadership for Cox departments and divisions including: Field Operations, Field Services, Customer Care, Marketing, Public Affairs, Cox Business and Cox Media. Prior to his most recent responsibilities, Brennan served as SVP and general manager of Cox’s Las Vegas system and its Orange County, Calif., operations.

Mark Bowser, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Joined Cox in 2006 as vice president of Cox Business before becoming CFO. As CFO, he oversees accounting, financial planning and analysis; mergers and acquisitions; and programming and is responsible for the management of the Cox Business commercial-services and Cox Media cable-advertising divisions. Over his 30-year career, Bowser has served stints at Dell Computer, GTE and Sprint. Started his career with the FBI investigating white-collar crime.

Dallas Clement, Executive Vice President/Chief Strategy and Product Officer: Provides overall product leadership including road maps, resource prioritization, Atlanta/field alignment and operational accountability for Cox’s video, voice, high-speed Internet and wireless products and services. In addition, Clement participates in cross-industry efforts related to technology, policy and services, developing relationships with new partners and making strategic investments to competitively grow Cox and the industry. Joined Cox in 1990 as policy analyst and was later promoted to manager of investment planning and director of finance. Prior to joining Cox, Clement served as financial analyst for Merrill Lynch.

Joe Rooney, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer: A 20-year veteran of Cox, Rooney has overseen Cox’s national marketing, sales, branding, marketing sciences and research since 1999. A 2004 NCTA Vanguard Award winner for marketing, Rooney also has held numerous leadership positions at CTAM and is currently vice chairman of its national board of directors.

Mae Douglas, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer: Responsible for all of Cox’s human-resources functions, including talent and leadership development, organizational development, workforce planning and recruiting, employee relations, labor relations, diversity, compensation and human resources management systems. Joined Cox in 1995, from pharmaceutical firm Ciba-Geigy.

Scott Hatfield, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer: Responsible for managing Cox’s information-technology initiatives and resources, Hatfield joined Cox after two years as VP of information management at Ohmedia. He has served prior stints at Xerox, General Dynamics and Ford Motor Co.

Robert Wilson, Senior Vice President, Programming: A 30-year Cox veteran, Wilson became SVP of programming in 2003 and has overall responsibility for all strategies, relationships and programming contracts related to all video content on Cox’s cable systems as well as for retransmission-consent agreements with broadcast-TV stations. Wilson also serves on the board of directors of In Demand and Music Choice.

Philip Meeks, Vice President, Cox Business: With more than 28 years’ experience in the telecom industry, Meeks oversees the strategic direction of Cox Business, including all marketing, operations, sales, product development and partnership initiatives. Prior to Cox, Meeks ran his own company, Channel Solutions, and spent 20 years at MCI.

C. Scott Wise, Vice President, Customer Care: Joined Cox in July 2007, responsible for 25 call centers and 3,500 employees. Has more than 20 years of customer-service experience in the telecommunications, wireless and Internet industries, including stints at EarthLink and Sprint PCS.

— Mike Farrell