Cablefax The Magazine - September 2014 - 24

THE LEADERS
89. Lisa Williams-Fauntroy
SVP, Business & Legal Affairs,
Discovery Communications
The development, production and
programming teams at Discovery
Channel, Science and Velocity rely
on Williams-Fauntroy to negotiate
complex deals and transactions, but
she also advises internal clients on liability issues involving
privacy, defamation, publicity, copyrights and more. When
considering new hires, she says being an accomplished
candidate isn't always enough. " Of utmost importance is
that a candidate speaks with candor and with truth about
his or her experience and skill set, " she says. " It's ok to admit
where you have areas for development. Use those areas
as places where you would like to stretch your skill set. "
90. Vera Buzanello
SVP, Distribution, Discovery
Networks Latin America / U.S.
Hispanic
While managing the entire distribution
infrastructure of Discovery's
Latin American portfolio, over the
past year Buzanello has overseen
140 launches while rolling out HD versions of the channels
throughout the region and adding Discovery Turbo to basic
packages. She sees new distribution platforms as key. " This
has the potential and is changing the consumer behavior,
and the industry will need to change along with [the consumers], "
she says. " The content needs to be provided on
different platforms, " she says. " Therein lies the challenge of
figuring out how to balance the traditional business model
vs. the new and diverse distribution platforms. "
91. Paxton Baker
EVP & GM, Centric;
President, BET Productions
A veteran in the music and television
industry, Baker oversees
Centric, the 24-hour entertainment
network targeting 25-54-year-old
African Americans, but he also
leads BET Event Productions, which produces numerous
festivals throughout the world. What does he look for in
job applicants? " Great energy, enthusiasm, organization,
innovative thinking, humility and a smile, " he says, noting
that cable needs to go outside subgroups and hire the most
qualified candidates when filling positions. When it comes
to branding, he believes in providing experiences. " We
brought our BET brand to life off the screen with the BET
Experience Festival in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, "
he says.
24
cablefaxmag.com
John Giraldo
Chief Accounting Officer,
AMC Networks
Former Cablevision exec Giraldo in
2011 joined AMC Networks, where
he leads the company's internal accounting
and transaction services and
oversees the SEC reporting function.
92.
His team of 46 professionals makes up half of AMC Network's
financial staff-all of whom have had a busy 2014 with the
recent purchase of Chellomedia, now known as AMC Networks
International. During the acquisition process, Giraldo provided
critical guidance to the company's top brass and legal team.
While he values his professional mentors, Giraldo notes " the
core values of responsibility, working hard, dedication and
importance of education and learning, while still maintaining a
sense of humor, were instilled by my parents. "
93. Michelle Strong
SVP, Distribution, A+E Networks
After five years on team A+E Networks,
Strong was promoted to her
current role, where she co-leads a
sales team responsible for securing
distribution and revenue. As
she continues to focus on securing
distribution and revenue through distribution deals,
she has her eye on the increasing availability of content on
multiple platforms. The NAMIC National Board member and
Betsy Magness alum says the definition of diversity hasn't
changed, and the cable industry can become more inclusive
" by providing targeted outreach to institutions that focus on
multi-ethnic success. "
94. Clara Kim
EVP, Business & Legal Affairs,
National Geographic Channels
What an exciting year for Kim. After
founding an indie production and
consulting company that focuses
on content targeted at multicultural
audiences, she rejoined the corporate
ranks in April as an EVP at Nat Geo in D.C. No stranger to
network life-in the late '90s, Kim worked on deals to launch
MTV and Nickelodeon around the globe-she now oversees
business and legal affairs pertaining to all domestic and international
businesses for National Geographic Channel, Nat
Geo Wild and Nat Geo Mundo. " Program ownership has been
one of the financial benefits of the cable deal model to cable
networks buyers, " she says. " As cable production companies
are being acquired by companies with global distribution
capacities, the ability of cable nets to retain ownership of the
programs they produce is becoming increasingly difficult. "
September 2014
Cablefax: The Magazine
http://www.cablefaxmag.com
Cablefax The Magazine - September 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - September 2014
