2009 Wonder Women

Multichannel News is celebrating the 11th class of Wonder Women, a group of 11 executives whose achievements and accomplishments have shaped and will continue to impact the cable, broadband and telecommunications industries. In addition, MCN editors are saluting a dozen Women To Watch, whose commitment to leadership and innovation, are charting the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for their companies in 2009 and beyond. Information on all these notables, as well as a roll call of the previous Wonder Women honorees can be found here.

Inductees

• Diane Robina
  President, Fearnet Comcast Programming Group  As president of FearNet, Comcast Programming Group, Diane Robina is responsible for the multiplatform horror/thriller service. The horror service - a joint venture of Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate - has come a long way since its debut. The VOD service is in roughly 30 million homes, and FearNet.com currently ranks as the No....
• Gwen Marcus
  Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Showtime Networks The highest-ranking woman at Showtime, Gwen Marcus is the company's chief legal officer, with responsibility for all of its transactions, litigation, intellectual property, programming standards and practices, compliance and regulatory issues, and other legal policy matters. As Showtime CEO Matt Blank's right-hand person, Marcus...
• Kathy Payne
  Vice President, Programming, Cox Communications In her post as vice president, programming, Kathy Payne is responsible for contract negotiations and compliance for over 100 cable entertainment, news and sports networks distributed to Cox's 5.4 million basic-cable customers and 3 million digital-cable subscribers. She is also actively involved with the deployment of the company's...
• Kate Juergens
  Executive Vice President, Original Programming & Development, ABC Family Responsible for such brand-defining series Greek, Kyle XY and Lincoln Heights, Juergens has proven that she can identify, develop and execute programming that strikes a chord with ABC Family's millennial audience. Those abilities were never more evident than in 2008, when she launched the summer smash The Secret...
• Joan Gillman
  Executive Vice President, President, Media Sales, Time Warner Cable Joan Gillman leads Time Warner Cable's advertising sales initiatives as executive vice president, president, Media Sales. Before assuming her current role, Gillman was the operator's vice president of interactive TV, advanced advertising, with responsibility for the development and deployment of new interactive and...
• Jennifer Gaiski
  Senior Vice President, Content Acquisition, Comcast Cable A 14-year industry veteran, Jennifer Gaiski has served as Comcast's senior vice president, content acquisition since 2007. In this role, she oversees the department's multibillion dollar content acquisition budget, negotiates and administers programming contracts, coordinates field operations and communications. She also has oversight...
• Peggy Ballard
  Senior Director, Worldwide Service Provider Marketing, Cisco Peggy Ballard is senior director of worldwide service provider marketing for Cisco. In her role, Peggy is responsible for the marketing strategy and execution of trade shows, exhibitions and events for Cisco's Service Provider Group on a global scale. Peggy is also responsible for driving Cisco's Service Provider Web strategy,...
• Patricia McCaskill
  Senior Vice President, Programming, Suddenlink As senior vice president, programming of Suddenlink, Patty McCaskill is responsible for managing the operator's relationships with media ownership groups, television stations, and cable networks. Before joining the Suddenlink team, McCaskill, who has more than three decades of cable industry management and operations experience, served as vice...
• Vicki Lins
  Chief Marketing Officer Canoe Ventures Vicki Lins, who started her cable career at advertising interconnect Adlink in Los Angeles, was recently named chief marketing officer of Canoe Ventures. She had been moonlighting as acting CMO for the advanced-advertising MSO consortium, while serving as senior vice president of marketing and communications for Comcast Spotlight. In her new post with...
• Alina Falcon
  Executive Vice President and Operating Manager, Univision Network Alina Falcón is responsible for overseeing all operations, including programming, promotions, talent relations, technical operations and news for the Univision Network. Based in Miami, Falcon reports to Univision Communication president and COO Ray Rodriguez. She was previously the executive vice president, operating manager...
• Eileen ONeill
  President, General Manager, TLC Currently, the president, general manager of TLC, Eileen O’Neill has run a number of Discovery Communications networks after beginning her career with the content company as an unpaid intern during graduate school. Among her myriad accomplishments on the operations, business affairs, scheduling, production management and programming disciplines,...