Jha to Head NAMIC

Manish Jha has been elected president of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications.

Jha, who is senior vice president of ESPN Mobile, has been with NAMIC for six years, and he will be its first Asian president. His two-year term began Nov. 1.

The rest of NAMIC’s executive committee will be made up of:

• Immediate past president: Jenny Alonzo, senior VP, production, promotion planning and multicultural strategies, Lifetime Entertainment Services;

• VP: Mae Douglas, senior VP and chief people officer, Cox Communications Inc.;

• Secretary: Andrew Givens, regional marketing director, Scripps Networks;

• Treasurer: Albert Cheng, senior VP, Disney and ESPN Networks; and

• Kathy Johnson, executive VP, NAMIC.

The organization also added four new members to its board of directors: Suzanne Keenan, senior VP, customer service, Comcast Cable Communications Inc.; Kelly "Adam" Ortiz, VP, people development, Time Warner Cable; Betty Panarella, VP, employee relations and development, Viacom International; and Winston Warrior, director, marketing, Cox High Speed Internet, Cox.

"America's multicultural diversity represents as important a business opportunity as the digital revolution, and I, working closely with Kathy Johnson and the NAMIC board, look forward to helping lead our industry in maximizing this opportunity," Jha said in a prepared statement.

"It is our goal to strengthen the NAMIC organization so that it becomes a more powerful contributor to the success of companies and individuals within the cable and telecommunications industry," he added.