Also Influential

Bill Abbott
EVP, advertising sales,
Hallmark Channel
Abbott continues to forge integrated marketing partnerships with the Sponsorship Solutions Unit. One recent deal involves custom vignettes to promote the movie, “Happy Feet.” With “March of the Penguins” also making its bow on Hallmark, are we sensing a theme here?

Henry Ahn
SVP, affiliate sales, NBCU Cable
Ahn has worked closely with outgoing NBCU star David Zaslav and continues to create buzz on his own with efforts to expand the net’s vision and reach over the years, including strides in Latin America. A nice guy too!

Amy Banse
President, Comcast Interactive Media
Along with EVP Samuel Schwartz, Banse has led Comcast’s charge to extend its content into alternative distribution platforms and beef up the Comcast.net portal. With YouTube and others breathing down her neck, she knows the stakes. Good thing she’s got major talent.

Rich Battista
CEO, Gemstar-TV Guide International
Since taking over in ’04, Battista has been busy transforming TV Guide’s brand in an effort to position the company for the 21st century. His focus on convergence has led to deals on everything from wireless distribution to interactive program guides. We have no doubt the evolution will continue into ’07 and beyond.

Char Beales
Pres/CEO, CTAM
If Char had any ego at all, she would sick minions of PR people on us every year to get her into one of the 100 rankings. But alas, Char never does. She would rather see others get recognition. Well, she’s still #1 in our book!

Debby Beece
President, programming and marketing, Oxygen
Beece not only makes and breaks programming deals, but she reigns over Oxygen’s stable of outspoken, over-the-top stars. Or as she likes to affectionately call them, “Totally Assertive Females.” Best of luck with that, Debby.

Deborah Blackwell
EVP/GM, SOAPnet
Blackwell is having a pretty good year at SOAPnet. Its recent acquisition of same-day airing rights for top-rated “The Young and the Restless” and the launch of broadband service SOAPNETIC are recent achievements. Meanwhile, reality bow “I Wanna Be A Soap Star” is posting record ratings.

Mary Collins
President/CEO, Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association
Under Collins’ leadership, the BCFMA is fast becoming the CTAM of cable’s financial management community. Collins continues to raise this organization’s profile, which may rise even higher as Wall Street refocuses its attentions on cable’s improving balance sheet.

Michael Collette
pres/CEO, Narad
Collette is one of the smartest guys around. His busy year at Narad includes refining the Narad architecture and lowering costs, among other feats. One Narad product is unofficially known as the “FiOS killer.” This guy’s a player.

Jeffrey S. DeMond
President/CFO, Bresnan Communications
DeMond officially became president in June ’05 but has functioned in a capacity worthy of that title for many years. Don’t believe us? Just ask Bill Bresnan. DeMond may shun the spotlight, but his dealmaking and negotiating skills are top notch.

Christine Driessen
CFO, ESPN
We continue to hear great things about Christine Driessen, whose numbers skills are matched only by her dealmaking intellect. She’s a part of every major negotiation—and that’s a very good thing for ESPN.

Benita Fitzgerald Mosley
President/CEO, WICT
WICT just keeps getting more influential, and Mosley continues to do a great job raising the organization’s profile. Meanwhile, the November gala in D.C. was packed and a huge success (even the food was great!).

Brad Fox
EVP, affiliate sales and marketing, Comcast Networks
Fox has a knack for coming up with creative affiliate promotions like E!’s “Emmy Extravaganza” and Style’s “21 Day Wedding Party.” He does it all while staying focused on growing Comcast’s overall content distribution.

Lisa Gersh
President/COO, Oxygen
Gersh has built a stellar reputation as Gerry Laybourne’s right-hand woman. A reputed multi-tasking maven, Gersh also won kudos this year for working out a big carriage deal with EchoStar. She continues to be an invaluable member of the Oxygen team.

Jef Graham
CEO, RGB Networks
With bandwidth management fast becoming a major concern in the competitive world, we’re watching Graham closely. RGB’s video processing tech is already turning heads, and the industry’s increasing focus on broadband video should only increase RGB’s influence in the coming years.

Richard Green
CEO, CableLabs
CableLabs hasn’t been in the news as much this year (except for when a broadband paper got mysteriously leaked to the Wall Street Journal… but we digress). In any event, Green remains a highly influential part of cable’s tech establishment—and his fingerprints are all over cable’s many recent innovations.

Pamela Euler Halling
SVP, Insight
Halling is one of those marketers who just keeps plugging away, gaining more respect from her peers at every turn. Lately, she has been busy remaking Insight’s image and working to redefine the company as a broad media firm. Throughout her efforts, she drives that “Simple is Better” mantra home.

Mike Hopkins
EVP, affiliate sales,
Fox Cable Networks
Hopkins has his hands all over everything from traditional linear deals for FCN’s 27 domestic networks to overall sales strategy and alternative distribution. He has also played a key role in launching new nets like the Soccer Channel. Above all, he’s just a really nice guy.

Kathy Johnson
President, NAMIC
Johnson continues to impress as leader of NAMIC, holding the cable industry's feet to the fire on diversity issues. NAMIC's recent survey outlining areas where the industry needs to improve had everyone buzzing at its NYC conference in Sept. And now, MSOs and programmers alike are feeling more pressure to work toward a more diverse workforce. We can thank Johnson and her team for that.

C.J. Kettler
CEO, Lime
Kettler has managed to take the “balance and wellness” concept to a new level of niche programming at Lime. With backing from Steve Case’s Revolution investment arm, we expect great things from this able executive. And her Yoga skills will no doubt come in handy as she negotiates with MSOs.

Sonia Khademi
CEO, Proxilliant
One of the few female CEOs out there, Khademi an able executive and interactive TV pioneer who helped found CableSoft in the 90s. Now, she brings service management solutions to cable operators worldwide.

Chuck Klein
Owner, Chuck Klein Productions
Want to measure influence? Ask yourself whether the ’06 Kaitz Dinner was the same without Chuck Klein’s traditional after-party (Cable’s partymeister was out of town this year). Chuck has yet to hire us as taste testers on the restaurant guides he compiles for cable trade show cities. C’mon, Chuck… even you and Shelley can’t handle Vegas alone!

Frank Lloyd
Lawyer at Mintz, Levin, Cohen, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo
Why Frank? Not only is he a Washington fixture who knows cable law inside and out, but this year he survived a bike accident in which he broke several ribs—and we still expect he’ll be busting a move at the next cable party. This guy is tough. Cable’s lucky to have him.

Jodi Markley
SVP, production, ESPN
Markely has her pulse on the niches surrounding the ESPN brand, as she runs ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes and ESPN International. As the world goes more global, her influence looks ready to  rise in the coming years.

Ryan O’Hara
President, TV Guide Channel, TV Guide SPOT, TV Guide Broadband
O’Hara has spent the last year evolving TV Guide Channel from a utility service to a full-fledged entertainment network—and with great success. With cross promotion deals spanning everything from the Olympics to “American Idol,” O’Hara is a busy guy.

Jean-Briac “JB” Perrette
SVP, new media, CFO, NBCU Cable
You have to hand it to NBCU. The company has been way out front in extending content distribution to the Internet and portable devices. Thank Perrette and his “new-media dream team” Michael Bonner, Megumi Ikeda and Ron Lamprecht for that vision. We can’t wait to see what they do next.

Brian Phillips
EVP/GM, CMT
Phillips heads one of the fastest growing nets out there, never afraid to expand programming into new areas (like when the ’06 Miss America’s Pageant debuted on CMT). Add new ventures like CMT Films and CMT Games, and we doubt this guy’s going to slow down anytime soon.

David Porter
Executive Director, Walter Kaitz Foundation
Porter just took over the top job at the Walter Kaitz Foundation this year. With the most recent NAMIC survey revealing serious gaps in industry diversity (and participation by companies in the survey itself), he has his work cut out for him. With several degrees under his belt, we don’t doubt his persistence.

Jessica Reif Cohen
Analyst, Merrill Lynch
Reif Cohen was bullish on cable before it was cool. And this year, she has every right to gloat over her peers who once predicted cable’s demise in the face of satellite and telco competition. She’s one of the best.

Susie Kim Riley
Founder/CTO, Camiant
Comcast’s Brian Roberts recently named Camiant as one of the companies he’s counting on to make his next-gen services sing. And Riley’s push to bring “control plane intelligence” to the network is what will drive everything from interactive gaming to streaming media and video telephony over broadband networks.

Bob Rose
EVP, distribution, CSTV
After 14 years at Court TV, Rose was out with the Turner takeover. But he didn’t let it get him down, almost immediately snagging the CSTV gig and charging ahead. His mantra that “all of us are smarter than one of us” says it all.

Adam Shaw
SVP, distribution, The NFL Network
Shaw has been waging a high-profile battle against Time Warner’s attempts to drop the net in its acquired Adelphia systems. Beyond that, he’s a smart, tough negotiator. Shaw’s one to keep on the radar screen.

Salaam Coleman Smith
EVP, Style Network
As one of the youngest (and one of the only African-American women) to run a cable network, Smith has a lot on her shoulders. But it’s her creative instinct and trailblazing vision that have fueled her meteoric rise to the top. We just think she’s got Style.

Mimi Thigpen
VP, strategy, Cox
Thigpen increasingly sits in a power position as Cox’s point person on wireless. In fact, she was the only female MSO leader in the wireless consortium talks. Even with just a few years in the industry, Thigpen has quickly become a well-known, respected leader.

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