Cablefax The Magazine - September 2016 - 19

THE LEADERS
he believes will most benefi t cable in the near term. Porter
commends " Empire, " " The Originals " and " Power " as current
television programming that embraces diversity.
57. Stephen Espinoza
EVP & GM, Sports and Event
Programming, Showtime Networks
As Showtime fi lls its scorecard
with more sports programming-
including " Championship Boxing, "
" 60 Minutes Sports " and " Inside the
NFL " -Espinoza continues to prove
himself an agile coach. He manages development and execution
of the overall strategy of the group and its pay-per-view
unit; the network's relationships with distributors, talent and
suppliers; and the acquisition and licensing of PPV event programming.
Espinoza will be brokering upcoming boxing deals
with a new slate of fi ghters, and will continue to recruit talent
and acquire and license PPV fi ghts for the network. He's
also developing projects for other franchises and developing
sports documentaries, including Ben Simmons doc " One and
Done. " Favorite charity he works with? " I'm especially fond
of two NYC-area pit bull rescue organizations, New York Bully
Crew and AmsterDog. "
58. Craig Robinson
EVP & Chief Diversity Officer,
NBCUniversal
Thanks to Robinson's leadership, at
NBCU, people of color at the VP level
and above, director level and manager
level each increased in numbers
by more than 50 percent between
2010 and 2015, and the number of women at each of these
levels increased by more than 35 percent. That's real results.
Moreover, at the close of last year, 71 percent of Comcast
NBCU's new hires were diverse and 47 percent of VP or above
leaders were diverse. Robinson has fostered eight different
employee resource groups, including OUT@NBCUniversal
for LGBT and Straight Ally employees, and has helped usher
in more diverse programming including " The Wiz Live! " . He
sees more work to be done. " While the industry has made
tremendous progress in on-air diversity over the years, there
is still much work to be done in diversifying the talent behindthe-camera, "
he says.
59. Carolina Lightcap
EVP & Chief Content Officer,
Discovery Networks Latin
America/U.S. Hispanic
Lightcap oversaw a third consecutive
year of record ratings in 2015, with
the fi rst half of 2016 building momentum
with the Q2 delivering a 4
Cablefax: The Magazine
percent gain over the fi rst quarter. Discovery Channel, Discovery
Kids, and Discovery Home & Health all ranked among the
top 10 pay TV channels in the primetime pan-regional level,
for A25-54. Lightcap also helped form a partnership between
Discovery Kids and Cris Morena Group and MundoLoco CGI
to co-develop a trio of animated series for kids to air on
Discovery Kids across Latin America. " I'm always reminding
myself to focus on 'fi rst things fi rst,' meaning to zero in on
the important, long-term goals, rather than only the urgent,
at-hand tasks, " she says. Perhaps that is the secret behind
her continued success.
60. Holly Tang
CFO, Bravo & Oxygen Media
When it comes to diversity, longtime
Bravo & Oxygen exec Tang gives the
cable industry a sober report card.
" I think some parts of the industry
are doing a better job than others,
averaging out to a C, " she says. " We
still need diversity at the top and in the C-Suites across the
board. " Tang is responsible for Bravo and Oxygen's fi nancial
oversight, including the development of both networks'
strategic and long-term plans. She continues to fi ne-tune
both networks' strategic initiatives, exploring new ways to expand
both businesses by identifying growth drivers and new
revenue streams.
61. Lisa Hsia
EVP, Bravo & Oxygen Media
Hsia led the digital team to its second
Emmy win last September for " The
Singles Project, " and this year she
spearheaded a new series of digital
lifestyle destinations on BravoTV.com
including food ( " The Feast " ), travel
( " Jet Set " ) and fashion & beauty ( " The Lookbook " ). She also
oversaw the launch of Bravo's fi rst standalone original digital
series, " Going Off the Menu, " and coordinated a partnership
between Bravo Media and Mashable for a slate of new digital
series. Hsia is proud of Oxygen series " Strut, " about a group of
transgender models, for embracing diversity.
62. Rob Simmelkjaer
SVP, Sports Ventures &
International, NBC Sports Group
Simmelkjaer manages a collection
of NBC Sports properties within the
group, including NBC Sports Radio,
the Spartan Race, Motocross and
the Red Bull Signature series. He
also heads up the acquisition and distribution of global media
rights. Equally at ease in front of and behind the camera,
Simmelkjaer is also an on-air contributor across multiple
September 2016
cablefaxmag.com
19
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