Cablefax The Magazine - November 2016 - 36

More of the Most Powerful Women in Cable 2016
Rita Cooper Lee
hard on delivering a really excellent product that will be
in keeping with both our and the Olympic Committee's
high standards, " she says.
Suzanne Kolb
EVP & GM, Discovery
Digital Networks
Discovery
Communications
Kolb joined Discovery in
January, and since then
has brought her brand
and programming expertise to the company's digital
content by reinvigorating the web-native team. Her
accomplishments include launching the revamped
digital brand Seeker and guiding Discovery's virtual
reality business, Discovery VR, to success. Discovery
VR has had more than 60 million views across
platforms and more than 1 million app downloads.
And Seeker Stories has enjoyed more than 300
million views and several viral hits. This year she
solidifi ed a partnership between Seeker and the ONE
Campaign to produce a short-form doc and social
media videos that educated people about the energy
crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, which helped pass the
Electrify Africa Act.
Kathryn Koles
SVP & Deputy General
Counsel
Comcast
Koles leads a team that
provides guidance and
support to Comcast's
advanced advertising
initiatives, including Comcast Spotlight's growth of
multiscreen and interactive advertising platforms.
She is not only well-known, but also respected by
Comcast employees for her work ethic and dedication.
Koles applies her knowledge of the law and the
advertising and cable industries to educate the team
and counsel them for success. A 2006 graduate of
the Betsy Magnus Leadership Institute, Koles is also
an accomplished equestrian, and she shares her love
of horses with her daughter, who rode competitively
as a teenager.
Ellen Kroner
EVP & Chief
Communications
Officer
AMC Networks
AMC Networks' chief
communications strategist
is heading into the
36
cablefaxmag.com
home stretch of another banner year-her last in
the industry as she gears up to retire at the end of
the year. Kroner, Cablefax's fi rst PR Exec of the Year,
will be missed by many. She and her team promoted
several new initiatives refl ective of the company's
continuing growth and expansion of original content in
2016, including IFC's " Documentary Now! " and " Take
5, " a new original series of fi ve-minute docs on some
of today's most relevant issues; AMC's " Preacher " ;
SundanceTV's " Rectify " ; and WE tv's " Braxton Family
Values. " The biggest story in cable this year according
to Kroner? " Consolidation. "
Colleen Langner
SVP, Marketing
Operations
Cox Communications
Relaunching Cox's
Contour and the new
capabilities powered by
the X1 licensing platform
was a major project, especially since Langner simultaneously
led a nationwide employee campaign that
built on employee excitement for Contour. She also
led marketing activities as Gigabit was extended to a
total of 12 states, and her lead to make the company's
marketing materials bilingual has helped Cox reach
more Hispanic customers. While acknowledging MSO
operators and content providers do well recruiting,
mentoring and promoting women, Langner says, " The
technical side of the business could still improve:
about 20 percent of undergraduate engineering
degrees awarded to women, yet only 13 percent of
the engineering workforce is female. "
Ebony Lee
SVP, Strategic
Development
Comcast Cable
Lee is always pushing
the envelope to develop
business cases around
new, innovative products,
platforms and technologies. She brings ideas
to life by working across the company with groups
such as product development, government affairs
and content acquisition to help ensure Comcast
shapes and builds the right business requirements
into its next-gen products and platforms. Among
her top goals is continuing to work with Comcast
stakeholders-inside and outside the company-
to develop solid road maps to make sure Comcast
continues to be innovative. She also participates in
Comcast's employee resource group mentorship
program.
November 2016
EVP, Communications
and Publicity
WGN America &
Tribune Studios
There's good reason
Cablefax recently named
Lee as its PR Executive
of the Year. Her outside-the-box approach to public
relations campaigns and grassroots promotions
helped put WGN America's acclaimed new original
series - Underground " and " The Outsiders " - on
the map alongside the network's returning series
" Salem. " She's garnered media attention for all of
the shows with press mailers and set tours, and
coordinates communications throughout the entire
stable of Tribune Media broadcast stations. Lee says
the advice she would offer her 13-year-old self is
quite simple: " Pick your boss and not your job, and
forge your own path. "
Karen Leever
EVP & GM, Digital
Media
Discovery
Communications
After joining the
company last October,
Leever spearheaded
Discovery's TV Everywhere streaming service,
Discovery GO, in the U.S. She also champions its VR
platform as well as the new and improved digital
Seeker brand, which creates more than 3,000 webnative
pieces to feed curious young minds. Moving
forward, Leever will continue to enhance Discovery
GO and will develop new virtual reality and Seekerspecifi
c content. Leever also enjoys being a mentor
for young women; currently she mentors two young
Discovery employees and coaches many from her
past 10 years in the industry. Her biggest cable
story of 2016? " The Rio Olympic digital coverage
that drove millions of unique users and billions of
streaming minutes. A true win for everyone working
very hard in the industry to make TVE a great
customer experience. "
Shari Levine
EVP, Current
Production
Bravo Media
Levine oversees Bravo's
East and West Coast
production teams and
is responsible for the
programming and production of all original series.
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