Cablefax The Magazine - December 2011 - 35

app do, if he created one? " Clean
my golf clubs and take out the
garbage. " Let us know when it's
out-we'll be all over that.
25. John Crowley
and 1.4 million customers-
and about $2 billion in
annual generated revenue.
What's more, the Minnesota/
Nebraska and Wisconsin KMA's
are consistent top players in the
MSO's operational performance
metrics. This longtime cable
executive has this to say about
the set-top box: " It should be
smaller and wireless. "
26. Dan Ronayne
Regional VP, Charter
Communications
Years in Cable: 29
Education: BA, Colby; MBA,
Southern New Hampshire
University
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Enjoy the moment!
Lisa Washa
Family-owned Massillon's top
man was named vice chairman
of the ACA this year, where he
previously served on the Board
regarding tech and policy issues.
An early adopter of all-digital
service and a perennial strategic
thinker, the second-generation
Massillon president thinks TV
Everywhere is cable's biggest
innovation of the past year. Gessner's
mother and father founded
Massillon in 1965 and his sister,
brother and wife remain at the
company, too. To his children,
he offers the following advice: " I
have daughters, so I have always
told them, 'There is only one man
EVP/GM, MSG Networks
Years in Cable: " A lot "
Education: BA, Business
Administration, Eastern Michigan
University
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: " Enjoy every sandwich " -
Warren Zevon
Regional VP, Charter
Communications
Years in Cable: 26
Education: Attended UW Stevens
Point and UW Stout
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Hire the will and train
the skill.
With a market of 1.6 million
customers and 3,300 employees,
Crowley continues to focus
tirelessly on improving the way
consumers perceive Charter's
customer service. He's most
proud of helping to lead the
enterprise's Customer Experience
Transition program, " one
of the key strategic components
for our continued growth and
success, " he says. He believes
the biggest innovation in cable
this year was " the continued
mobility of video/data services
and all of the cool apps that are
now out there for our customers
to fully utilize. " Washa's territory
comprises Charter customers
in Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Missouri. That's
more than 1,100 communities
Ronayne this year oversaw live
telecasts for seven pro teams,
led the nets to huge improvement
margins for the N.Y.
Knicks and N.Y. Rangers and
brought new events such as the
rookie hockey tournie Traverse
City Prospects and surfing
competition Quicksilver Pro
New York. He'll be expanding in
2012 with more events, musical
acts and movies. Ronayne, one
of 11 children, says he'd put
just about anything on a hot
dog, which dovetails nicely with
his best advice, from songwriter
Warren Zevon (see above).
27. Bob Gessner
you should believe when he says
'Trust me,' and you are talking to
him right now'. "
28. Janet Barnard
GM, MSG Varsity
Years in Cable: 11
Education: BA, Providence College;
MBA, NYU.
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: (From my parents) Be
positive and make yourself
useful.
Chillianis has overseen high
school network MSG Varsity's
strategic initiatives, including
its relaunch in HD and addition
of live sports coverage.
" We have 600 schools in
our footprint. We're dealing
with 600 unique entities. So
the hardest part about the
job is serving each one of
those with a custom plan
that's going to work for each
one of those schools, " she
recently told Sports Business
Daily. She's most proud of the
140-member team she leads
and how far they've come in
three years.
30. Jim Gleason
SVP/GM, Central Region, Cox
Communications
Years in Cable: 23
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Be authentic.
Barnard oversees a region
comprising 2,500 employees
and 710,000 customers. She
attributes her accomplishments
to managing a healthy work/
life balance. " Going home to a
stable personal life gives me
the confidence, energy and
passion to do what I love doing
at work-delivering life's most
important connections. " In addition,
Barnard lauds Millennials-
above all, her daughters. " I'm
impressed with their worldliness
and resourcefulness. We should
be confident we'll be well taken
care of by our next generation! "
29. Theresa Chillianis
President, Massillon Cable TV
Years in Cable: 33
Education: BBA, College of William
& Mary
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Have fun!
CableFAX: The Magazine
December 2011
President/CEO, NewWave
Communications
Years in Cable: 25
Education: BS, Business
Administration, Southeast
Missouri State
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Don't give up.
We honored NewWave as our
2010 Independent Operator of
the Year, and we've also given
Gleason props in prior years
for his outstanding customer
service. With good reason.
The MSO serves more than
100,000 customers in the
Midwest and Southeast, and
recently annexed Illinois and
Indiana. On retrans, Gleason
says cable operators should
" tell everyone in Washington
who will listen that this must
be changed and if they care
about consumers' rates then
they would address the issue.
Unfettered greed should not
go unpunished. "
31. Steve Friedman
COO, Wave Broadband
Years in Cable: 29
Education: BS, USC
Best Advice in 7 Words or
Less: Think on behalf of the
customer.
Friedman reigned as ACA
president for three years. During
his tenure, he worked tirelessly
to raise the visibility of retrans
consent reform and put it on the
national agenda-an issue that
remains top of mind. He told
CableFAX that cable operators
must " fight to revise the retrans
rules that allow local broadcasters
to dictate rates and terms of
carriage, including allowing operators
to tier broadcast channels,
eliminating antiquated FCC
rules and ceasing broadcast
duopolies. The current rules only
harm consumers. "
32. Patrick Knorr
CEO, Knorr Solutions
The tech-forward former COO
of Sunflower Broadband led
the indie operator through
such innovations as advanced
VOD advertising, deployment
of DOCSIS 3.0 and enhanced
Wi-Fi. He now heads up a
strategic consultancy firm and
specializes in all digital, VOD,
advanced advertising and
bundling. We named Knorr
to the CableFAX Digital Hot
List this year, and the ACA
recently honored him with its
Board Service Award. ◆
cablefaxmag.com
35
http://www.cablefaxmag.com
Cablefax The Magazine - December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - December 2011
