Cablefax The Magazine - October 2021 - 32

Bret Perkins
SVP, External & Government
Affairs, Corporate Affairs
Comcast Corporation
Perkins has been the steward of
Comcast's Internet Essentials program
since its launch and is always searching for new opportunities to
expand it further. In February, download speeds for Internet Essentials
customers were doubled to 50 Mbps in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Perkins celebrated the program's 10-year
anniversary in March, and Comcast has plans to invest $1 billion
over the next 10 years to closing the digital divide. He is passionate
about Comcast's MyAbilities employee resource group,
of which he is the National Champion. The group spearheads
a number of activities designed to foster a disability-inclusive
workplace culture. " Seeing my parents spend much of their
careers serving people with intellectual disabilities and understanding
and learning to live with my hearing loss has helped
me truly appreciate the significant diversity in the community
represented by the MyAbilities ERG, " Perkins says.
Joiava Philpott
SVP, Law & Policy &
Chief Counsel
Cox Communications
Philpott, a former BMLI fellow and
current member of WICT and NAMIC,
is always seeking new recruits for the industry's diversity associations.
She takes Cox's DEI goals to heart, lifting others up
through mentorship and playing an active role in ERGs. This
well-regarded legal eagle was promoted to chief counsel at
Cox at the end of last year after eight years as VP of regulatory
affairs. She credits the industry with making real DEI progress
over the past 12 months, giving companies high marks for
" granting employees license to express [themselves] through
a panoramic lens of empathy and respect, increased financial
commitments to support social justice initiatives, and added
emphasis on highlighting diverse content. "
Greg Regis
EVP, National
Advertising Sales
Discovery, Inc.
While COVID-19 brought unpredictable
challenges, Regis and his team continued
to work toward building strong advertising relationships
for HGTV, ID, Animal Planet, DIY Network and, most notably,
newbie Magnolia Network. Originally set to launch in October
2020, Magnolia had been sold to 50 advertisers at Discovery's
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annual upfront. But COVID shut down production everywhere,
making that launch impossible. He and his team jumped in and
offered advertisers temporary alternatives, including ad slots on
streamer discovery+ alongside Magnolia content. Speaking of
his team, Regis has assembled one of the most diverse among
cable programmers. Although he recognizes progress on DEI
in the industry in the past year, he calls it " appropriate but not
necessarily significant. " He explains, " Many conversations about
what next steps need to happen in order to increase DEI have
been happening across the industry. This is good news. Tracking
the results of these conversations will be important over the next
few years. "
Craig Robinson
EVP & Chief Diversity Officer
NBCUniversal
Robinson is laser-focused on defining
and refining NBCUniversal's corporate
culture into one that truly values
diversity, includes and gives voice to people of all ethnicities,
backgrounds, and genders, and reflects that diversity across
the NBCUniversal portfolio. He is spearheading Comcast's $100
million effort to fight injustice and inequality, promote diverse
and inclusive HR practices, and explain the importance of antiracism
education and inequality awareness. He is beginning to
notice progress with DEI outside of NBCU, as well. " I'm very encouraged
by the sincere increase in DEI efforts that we're seeing
in the industry, " Robinson says. " This past year has brought
focus on so many issues that have been long ignored, which are
now getting long overdue attention. " He also serves as co-chair
of the Comcast NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Advisory Council.
Chris Rose
VP, Scheduling & Acquisitions
The History Channel
One of Rose's key accomplishments in
the last 12 months was the launch of
" Grant, " History's three-night event
series about Ulysses S. Grant. Its strategic premiere on Memorial
Day, blanketed by similarly military-themed programming that
weekend, helped it finish as History's No. 1 non-fiction miniseries
of all time. With military/WWII content resonating strongly
with the History audience, he acquired two award-winning
miniseries, " Band of Brothers " and " The Pacific, " from WarnerMedia,
elevating the brand to the next level. Rose is an integral
member of the Multicultural Advisory Committee, an internal
group dedicated to ensuring that content created within the
company is authentic to the experiences of all people. " Given the
social unrest in the country in the last year or so, never has it
been more important to amplify the voices of people from underrepresented
and marginalized communities, " he says.
October 2021
Diversity List
http://www.CablefaxDiversity.com
Cablefax The Magazine - October 2021

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