Meeks to Take Business Services Role at Charter

Charter Communications named Time Warner Cable commercial services chief Phil Meeks as executive vice president and president of Business Enterprise Services, effective after its planned merger with the cable company is completed.

Meeks is currently EVP and chief operating officer of Business Services at TWC. An industry veteran – he joined TWC in 2013 after about five years as senior vice president of Cox Business – Meeks will oversee all aspects of Charter’s business enterprise unit.

Charter agreed in May to purchase TWC in a deal valued at about $78.7 billion. That transaction, currently winding through the regulatory approval process, is expected to close by the end of the year.

“Phil’s knowledge and understanding of the commercial telecommunications industry is all encompassing,” Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said in a statement.  “With a proven track record of success, Phil’s leadership will be instrumental to the continued growth of our enterprise business.”

At TWC, Meeks leads its rapidly growing business services unit, serving over 650,000 business customers and accounting for over $3 billion in annualized revenue. At Cox Business he led 3,500 employees in making it the fastest growing business unit in the enterprise.

Meeks has a long history in the telecom business outside the cable industry as well, serving 20 years in various strategy, sales and account management roles during 20 years at MCI Telecommunications and starting  his career at AT&T Information Systems/Southern Bell in 1979.

In addition, Charter named former long-time ad sales executive  David Kline and former PepsiCo executive Paul Marchand as EVP and president of Media Sales and EVP of Human Resources, respectively.

Kline has spent more than 33 years in the ad business, most recently as president and chief operating officer at Visible World. Prior to Visible World, Kline served as chief operating officer of inertactive TV company Ensequence and had served for 14 years as president and chief operatig officer of Cablevision Media Sales.

“David is an industry veteran with over 30 years of knowledge and experience in his field,” Rutledge said in a statement.  “David’s strategic leadership will further elevate Charter’s position as an innovator in the advanced TV advertising space.”

Marchand is a 12-year veteran of PepsiCo, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the North America Beverages Field and Supply Chain organization. In addition to several other previous management roles at PepsiCo, Marchand also has held human resources positions at Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and the May Department Stores Co.

“Paul is a seasoned and strategic leader with over 20 years of experience in Human Resources,” Rutledge said in a statement.  “His proven ability to attract, develop and retain the very best talent will be a tremendous asset to Charter moving forward and I am pleased to welcome Paul to our executive team.”

All three executives will report directly to Rutledge and will be based at Charter’s Stamford, Conn., corporate headquarters.