When Marianne Gambelli got her start in advertising, women were never part of teams that sold sports, beer or cars. But in her first sales job at Grey Advertising, she worked on the Miller Beer account. That was only the first of the ceilings that she burst right through.
Gambelli was later on the NBC Sports team, ending up as president of sales
and marketing for NBCUniversal. She led upfronts worth several billion dollars, often setting the market in NBC’s “Must-See TV” era.
Gambelli went on to spend 10 years as Horizon Media’s chief investment officer, where she got an education in advanced advertising as ads moved away from Nielsen ratings and demographics and toward data-based metrics and impressions. She then brought that education to Fox, where she was president of advertising sales, marketing and brand partnerships.
“I wasn’t one of those who had to be promoted,” Gambelli said. “I just did the work. I felt like that work got recognized and then things happened, doors opened that weren’t open before. I honestly don’t feel like they had to have a female so they picked me. I felt that I earned it.”
Gambelli’s performance in all of her roles has certainly opened doors for other women to come through. “We grew up with heads of ad sales all being men; now they are all women,” Keith Turner, who worked with Gambelli as NBC’s president of ad sales, said. “She never panicked and was always able to operate effectively and lead.”
Watch the relationships you have as you are growing. They are what comes back to you.”
Marianne Gambelli
That sense of confidence gave other leaders confidence in her, allowing her to both to lead as she saw fit and also influence overall corporate decisions. “Whenever we were in the room — and I was often with her in rooms that included the likes of Bob Wright, Jeff Zucker and Steve Burke — she was always a commanding presence,” Ed Swindler, an independent media consultant to Fox who formerly held several executive roles at NBC, said. “She always had a point of view that they wanted to know and she was trusted. Trust is the basis for most of her success.”
One of the things Gambelli learned is that “you’re interviewing for the job when you don’t even know you are interviewing for it.” For example, she developed a tight relationship with Jeff Zucker when he was NBC’s head of West Coast entertainment in 2000. When he was promoted to CEO of NBCUniversal Television group in 2005, he knew right away who would lead his ad-sales team.
“Watch the relationships you have as you are growing. They are what comes back to you,” Gambelli said.
Relationship Builder
Cultivating strong relationships is what brought Gambelli to Fox in 2017. About a year and half prior, a mutual friend introduced her to Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy. They met for breakfast. “When we got there, I think we were both like, ‘why are we here,’ but we hit it off,” she said. “It was probably one of the best meetings I’ve ever had. A year and a half later, when the head ad sales job opened, he called me.”
Gambelli spent the last seven years of her career at Fox, years that she said were her favorite because “they let you run your business, but there was also lots of support.” In 2020, Gambelli launched the Fox Ad Sales Diversity and Inclusion Council with the mission to build and enhance the culture of inclusivity.
“I feel the more voices you have that are different, the better off you are as a whole,” she said. “You need different ways of thinking. That lets the whole team rise up.”
Kristi Curcio-Nolan, VP, ad sales, strategic and business initiatives, engagement and events, office of the president, said diversity and inclusion were always a focus for Gambelli.
“She has always wanted to bring everybody up,” she said. “She was always doing these things but she never needed to be in the spotlight.”
Gambelli retired from Fox in January after a satisfying four-decade career. “I did things that I never thought I would do,” she said. “I went to the Beijing Olympics, Wimbledon, the French Open. I had so many experiences that one person should never have in one lifetime. If I don’t do anything else for the rest of my life, I will have lived well.”
