Cablefax The Magazine - September 2014 - 34

THE INFLUENTIALS
Freddy Rolon
VP, Programming &
Business Initiatives,
ESPN Deportes
In the past year,
Rolon has helped
acquire major programming
rights for
ESPN Deportes, including exclusive
rights to the 2015 Pan American
Games. Rolon was behind the social
media strategy that made ESPN
Deportes' Facebook and Twitter
accounts two of the most-followed
social media accounts among their
competition. " The new Sportscenter
studio and Digital Center have allowed
us to take a quantum leap with
our coverage, " he says. " We've only
seen the first glimpse of what can
be done to serve sports fans across
platforms with this new technology. "
Miguel Santos
GM, Myx TV
Santos sets the
overall direction
for Asian-American
net Myx, overseeing
programming,
production, creative,
digital media, marketing and business
development. This year the network
added Bright House Networks to its
distribution rolls, bringing its household
count to 12 million. Santos is
expanding distribution to connected
devices as well, launching an app on
Roku, Samsung Smart TV and Sony
Bravia to complement the cable channel.
With Asian Americans typically
one of the most under-represented
minority groups in media, Santos says
cable can help by " diversifying the
ranks of decision makers to include
more individuals who have different
perspectives attuned to the country's
rapidly changing demographic composition
and entertainment preferences. "
Savalle Sims
SVP, Litigation and
Intellectual Property,
Discovery
Communications
Sims' collaborative
companywide
approach to litigation
and intellectual property issues
has led Discovery to adopt a more
coordinated approach to all of its
trademark, patent, copyright and
other intellectual property needs.
She says her best mentors led by
example. " I have learned a great deal
from mentors who have been courageous
enough to share their greatest
mistakes and failures, while imparting
how they learned and grew from
those experiences, " she says.
Jeffrey Smith
VP/Deputy General
Counsel,
Comcast Cable
In late March of
this year, Comcast
announced Smith's
promotion to his current
position leading the legal team
and providing counsel for packaging
and pricing, marketing, procurement,
commercial business services, new
products, customer service and real
estate. Smith has held a number of
positions with the company including
SVP and general counsel of Broadnet
Europe sprl, formerly a foreign
operating subsidiary of Comcast and
of Comcast's cellular operations.
Additionally, Smith has served on a
number of charitable boards in the
Pennsylvania area.
Madhu Goel Southworth
VP, Legal & Business
Affairs, AMC Networks
It's quite a list: Over
the last year, Southworth
has helped
improve AMC's compliance
with privacy
and social media policies, handled
AMC's growing consumer products and
merchandising business, negotiated
and drafting key product integration
agreements, led the legal and business
affairs counsel for key initiatives
with the Lincoln Center and Museum
of Moving Image for the final season
of " Breaking Bad, " negotiated the deal
for the first e-commerce store for " The
Walking Dead. " She also developed
AMC's first legal internship program
several years ago. " Beyond attracting
diverse employees, I think it's important
to focus on retention and advancement, "
she says. " Formal mentorship
programs, diversity committees and
various affinity groups really help. "
Marcela Tabares
SVP, Revenue
Research,
A+E Networks
Tabares' groundbreaking
research into
" how to market to
women " in traditional
male-centric categories-specifically
automotive-has helped advertisers
optimize messaging among the increasingly
powerful female consumer, and
she is pioneering new approaches to
measuring how programming content
affects ads by implementing standard
psychological tests of cognitive performance.
Another of Tabares' studies,
due this fall, explores how emotional
tonality affects advertising. The expansion
of new measurement technologies
is " the beginning of a movement from
basic demographics to audience-based
selling, " she says. " In this effort, we are
currently working on developing a tool
that bridges Nielsen viewership with
consumption based data. "
34
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