December 16, 2008

Cox Realigns Leadership

By Jonathan Tombes

A week ago, Cox Communications announced the appointment of Leo Brennan to chief operations officer, effective Jan 1. Additional personnel news then emerged, including the planned retirement of Cox SVP and CTO Chris Bowick.

As reported last Thursday by our colleagues at CableFAX Daily, Cox President Pat Esser is realigning his direct reports, also effective Jan 1. Among the changes, SVP and CIO Scott Hatfield will become SVP technology, overseeing IT and engineering.

Bowick, who has held his role since 2000, will help integrate the two organizations. A Cox spokesperson said that Bowick's target date for retirement is June 30.

According to the memo obtained by CableFAX Daily, Esser said Cox is organizing its business around five areas: "people, financial services and business support, products and strategy, platform and technology, and operations."

Hatfield crosses platforms

Hatfield joined Cox in 1996, following two years as VP of information management for Ohmeda, a pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturer that has since merged with Datex and is now part of GE Healthcare. He previously worked with Xerox, General Dynamics and Ford Motor Co.

Interviewed by CT in early 2008, Hatfield underscored cross-platform integration. Asked when individual services would move from silos to an integrated whole and impact his job accordingly, he answered, "Not quite yet, but soon."

"The technical platforms, until recently, truly were silos," Hatfield said. "The video platform was very isolated. The circuit-switched phone platform brought certain barriers. The evolution to IP, to IMS, and to service oriented architectures provides a common technical foundation that justifies realignment out of silos."

Hatfield said that in terms of core apps, IT was ahead on the cross-platform curve. "The last step will probably be an organizational realignment away from silos, something we'll probably look at as our internal customers align." (For more from Hatfield, click here. For the entire issue of Communication Technology's IT Executive, click here.)

Operations chief

Brennan joins Cox corporate from Cox Las Vegas, where he has served as SVP and GM since 2005. Previously, Brennan was GM of Cox's Orange County system for 15 years.

For a review of Cox Orange County/Palos Verdes, CT's System of the Year in 2007, and indications of Brennan's legacy, click here.

In his new role as COO, Brennan will be responsible for leadership of field operations, field services, customer care, marketing, public affairs, Cox Business and Cox Media. "(Brennan's) passion and extraordinary leadership skills are exactly what we need to help us remain competitive in the marketplace," said Esser in a statement.

Esser previously held the COO position, which has remained vacant since he was named president in 2006.

- Jonathan Tombes

Read more news and analysis on Communications Technology's Web site at www.cable360.net/ct/news/.