Cablefax The Magazine - July 2010 - 33

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Pat Thompson
Managing Director
RBC Daniels
Pat Thompson recently had an epiphany of sorts
standing on the patio of her home in Denver's
Tech Center.
" Right in front of me is Time Warner, across the
HER FAVORITE MERGER &
ACQUISITION: While she can't
seem to retire, Thompson finds
time to relax.
street are DirecTV and Comcast and across the street
from them is Jones Intercable, " she recounts. " I just
thought, 32 years later and I'm still surrounded by the
cable companies and the people I started with. "
The moment was fitting for the managing director
of RBC Daniels, whom we're honoring with a Lifetime
Achievement award not only because she's likely
closed more deals than anyone else in the business,
but because she excels at building, and sustaining,
relationships.
Her success is not a coincidence. It's built on a blend of
business acumen and TLC. Sometimes that means tough
love, like when she addressed a group of small and midsize
operators at an industry gathering several years ago
in Phoenix. Her candid message? Upgrade your facilities.
It was a hard thing to hear, but Thompson was right, says
an executive who was there.
It's Thompson's integrity that helps her most. " Many,
many cable operators have known Pat for years and
they trust her to take care of their best interests, "
says Daniels Chairman/CEO Brian Deevy. " A number
of people come up to me after a deal's done - and
it's never an easy process when you're selling assets
you've owned for a long time - and they tell me Pat
treats them and their operation like they are her own;
like she's a family member. "
Indeed, Thompson, 67, who hints at retirement but
can't seem to do it, began brokering mergers and
acquisitions for small and independently owned cable
companies at Jones. She continued at her firm, Pat
Thompson Co., the first woman-owned cable brokerage.
Along the way, she became one of the industry's
biggest advocates for small-operators. She joined
Daniels in 1991.
For Thompson, cable is family, coax is in her blood.
It's why she can't leave. " You see those who retire, "
she says, " like [the late Bill] Bresnan, and then they get
CableFAX: The Magazine
July 2010
Fast Facts
\ Thompson serves as a director on the ACA Board and is
an NCTA-CablePac Committee member.
\ She's received a Daniels Award for leadership. " We were
very excited " when she joined Daniels in 1991, Brian
Deevy says. " Bill Daniels had been wanting to get her on
board for a long time. "
back in the game. Once you've been in the business
for so many years, it's really difficult to say you're not
going to be part of it any more. "
Thompson ballparks the number of deals she's
closed at 500. " I can't help but think about how things
have changed and how we used to do things so differently, "
she says. " We used to do deals writing on
napkins. Now the big guys come in, the equity guys, to
do the deals. But there are still those same people who
make this industry what it is. "
Here's hoping one of those people-Pat Thompson-stays
around cable quite a bit longer.
cablefaxmag.com
33
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Cablefax The Magazine - July 2010

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