Cablefax The Magazine - September 2012 - 26

The Influentials
Paxton K. Baker
EVP and GM, Centric
Baker oversees all of
Centric's top deals,
programming and
negotiations. He also
serves as president of
BET Event Productions, which produces
music festivals globally. For instance,
he has produced the St. Lucia
Jazz Festival for 15 years and counting,
and he promotes other similar fests in
Anguilla, Barbados, Iceland, India and
other far-lung locales. He sits on the
boards of many organizations, including
the Jazz Alliance International, the
Congressional Award and the United
States Senate Preservation Board of
Trustees. Not to mention, with Baker at
Centric's helm, the net has experienced
its best ever year of ratings in 2011.
Joe Bernard
VP, Sales, mun2
NBCUniversal
The bicultural Hispanic
market is growing fast,
and Bernard is one of
the cable execs leading
the pack. As head of sales for mun2,
he escorted the net to its best-ever
upfront season in 2011, by driving revenue
growth from sales and marketing
partners. He credits acting class with
providing the tools to plan a presentation
or speech, just as you would break
down a scene between actors. The
next skill he plans to master is " clear
thinking... Some of the best executives
possess a skill of making complicated
things seem simple. The clearer you
are in how you think, the better communicator
you will be and lead a team
towards a goal. "
Paul Butler
GM, ASPiRE and SVP/
General Counsel,
GMC TV and Aspire
Butler has been an
inluential industry
leader for 15 years. At
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GMC, he has successfully led business
affairs, development and HR. His leadership
has produced a robust original
programming slate, a diverse workforce
and strategic business partnerships.
He recently was appointed GM
of ASPiRE, the new African-American
network launched by Magic Johnson.
At ASPiRE he will lead all aspects of
the network's operations. His advice
for young people trying to break into
the cable industry: " Make sure you can
clearly articulate what speciic value
you bring to a team. "
Adrienne Byrd
SVP, Legal and
Standards & Practices,
Sprout
NBCUniversal
Byrd structures and negotiates
network agreements
and is responsible for corporate
governance and policy development.
But she also actively fosters diversity
in the community. For instance, she's
a committee member for Jack and Jill
of America, whose goal is to nurture
future leaders, primarily African-American
mothers. In May she was honored
with the " Women Achieving Award, " by
the Philadelphia Tribune and serves as
a mentor to WICT's new class of mentees.
Looking ahead, Byrd hopes to see
more diversity within decision-making
roles. " The industry needs to work to
increase the pipeline of candidates
available for these types of jobs by hiring
candidates that will be on track to
ill these positions, " she says.
Veronica Cajigas
SVP, Global Business
Operations, Discovery
Communications
Cajigas leads the team
that consolidates
Discovery's global
cross-company business operations
and heads up strategic project planning
to ensure seamless integration
of mergers and acquisitions, includSeptember
2012
ing the recent integration of production
company " betty. " What's gotten
her this far? Something she calls the
" translator ability, " or " being able to
attentively listen to diverse points of
view, help communicate those points
of view in an objective manner and
help people reach agreements on how
to move forward. "
Andrea Ching
SVP, Marketing and
Promotions, CNN
News Networks and
Turner Digital
Turner Broadcasting
System
Ching's responsibilities signiicantly
increased at the beginning of this year
when she gained oversight of all marketing
and promotions efforts for CNN,
which was added to her purview of the
Turner Sports and Entertainment digital
portfolio. She's been at the forefront of
digital advertising on both agency and
publisher sides. On diversity, she says
" our success is predicated upon serving
an increasingly diverse customer
and viewer base. "
Merah Chung
VP, Development and
New Series, Style
Media, NBCUniversal
Chung heads development
and production
for The Style Network's
new programs, a role that also
entails fostering relationships with
the entertainment community and recruiting
talent. In her tenure at Style,
she's been outspoken about minorityfocused
programming, such as the
series " Chicagolicious, " an AfricanAmerican
targeted spinoff of " Jerseylicious "
(her work as well), " Empire
Girls " and " Tia & Tamera. " When it
comes to diversity in cable, Chung
sees plenty of room for improvement,
particularly in pushing diversity
behind the scenes. " If we can commit
to seeking out, recruiting and mentorCableFAX:
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