Cablefax The Magazine - December 2021 - 46

Most Powerful Women
the
Lori LeBas
SVP, Business
Operations
Disney Platform
Distribution
With more than 20
years of experience at Disney under her
belt, LeBas is the person to turn to for the
design and implementation of everything
media distribution-related, including linear
networks, SVOD, AVOD, transactional,
syndication, audio and direct-to-consumer
products. Although she has joked in the
past that " if men in power aren't 100%
committed to advancing women in the
workplace it will never happen, " she credits
the guidance and support of a male
mentor in her past with make a difference
in her career. " He gave me the responsibility,
accountability, freedom and support
to define the structure, organization and
business objectives, " she says.
Jodi
Robinson
EVP, Digital
Platforms
Charter
Communications
If you've seen the Spectrum TV or My
Spectrum apps recently, you've seen what
Robinson is capable of. She continues
to push Charter's digital experiences
forward, collaborating with the operator's
designers and engineers to take its
apps to the next level. With her promotion
in August, she's also begun shaping
employee-facing experiences that support
customer service representatives, field
technicians, online ordering and video engineering.
In her eyes, the media industry
has more to do to ensure the stories and
characters featured on screen reflect the
world as it is today. " While I'm encouraged
by the growing dialogue regarding
gender bias and gender representation in
media-by most accounts, the industry
continues to struggle to make sustained
and consistent progress, " she says.
Colleen
Fahey Rush
EVP & Chief
Research Officer
ViacomCBS
Rush and her team
sit at the intersection of every business
function at ViacomCBS, creating and
reinventing how to organize and analyze
data and fielding consumer research. Her
belief is that the industry must reimagine
ways to reach and understand audiences
on every platform. She has worked to
revive the business of measurement and
has championed the need for a diversified
currency strategy, which she believes
is paramount to achieving a holistic
audience view. She also instituted the ViacomCBS
Research Council to coordinate
research and analytics across the company's
portfolio. Given Rush's commitment
to reimagining research practices, it isn't
surprising she named Shonda Rhimes'
" Year of Yes " as the one female empowerment
book to read. She likes that Rhimes
" reminds us all to take on new things and
build a fresh perspective. "
Robin
Thomas
EVP, Consumer
Insights, Strategy &
Analytics
Crown Media
Family Networks
As the new leader of the company's
research department, Thomas ensures
her team is developing and executing
comprehensive, integrated research
procedures that support Crown Media's
overarching strategic business plan. She
hit the ground running this year, reinventing
internal research reporting and revolutionizing
the company's data analysis
by implementing segmentation studies
that have made great strides in analyzing
viewer trends across the linear and
streaming landscape. " Take advantage of
the areas you have grown that are valuable
in the workplace, such as managing
a household, community involvement or
simply expanding your network, " she says
to peers returning to work after a hiatus.
" Tap in to all of that. "
46
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December 2021
Teresa
WardMaupin
SVP,
Customer &
Digital Experience
Comcast Business
Ward-Maupin's skill set unites traditional
silos. Her marketing expertise unites
business goals with customer needs, her
knowledge of software and tech spans
digital marketing through telecommunications,
and her commitment to the online
customer experience is unmatched. In
her primary role, she successfully led
Digital and Customer Experience strategy
and execution throughout the pandemic.
During this time she was also tapped to
support Comcast's DEI efforts and lead
the launch of Comcast RISE, a program
to support minority-owned businesses.
" Consistent with our objective of reflecting
the communities we serve, Comcast
has adopted a long-term, aspirational
goal of achieving a workforce that is 33%
people of color and 50% women at all
levels, " she says.
Laura Wu
Head of Strategy &
Operations
Beachfront
The world of advanced
advertising
is huge and ever-changing, but Wu confidently
and gracefully navigates it. She
crafts the road maps that have led to the
development of technologies that enable
MVPDs to take part in the programmatic
revolution. She's also managed partnerships
with the likes of Seachange that
have brought addressable advertising to
life on linear platforms. Wu highly recommends
the Harvard Business Review's
Women at Work podcast for anyone
looking for inspiration or action items from
top-notch researchers. " I've gained a lot
of very practical advice from this podcast;
everything from negotiating salaries, to
managing burnout, to navigating career
pivot points, " she says. n
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