The TAMI Awards recognize outstanding member volunteers who have contributed significantly to the overall success and growth of CTAM events and projects to serve members.
Linda Finney, VP, Affiliate Marketing, truTV
Linda Finney is being honored by CTAM for her efforts to lead the organization’s 2007 One-Brand, Many Platforms session. The CTAM Summit panel session delved into cross-platform strategies and drew a crowd of executives new to the CTAM experience.
Finney was also instrumental in helping organize the 2008 Rules of Engagement seminar that tested a speed-learning format and brought ad sales, media buying and research into the session’s mix of topics covered during the roundtable discussions.
“Since joining [CTAM] over 10 years ago, my membership, and the relationships I have fostered as a result, have enriched my life,” Finney said. “I have been incredibly inspired by the creativity of my peers, as well as by the level of commitment to the industry and to the field of marketing — in the realm of cable television and beyond.”
Finney has held various positions in the marketing departments of Lifetime Television and Lifetime Medical TV with additional stints at New Jersey Public Television and The Children’s’ Television Workshop.
Paul Hockenbury, Senior Director of Market Research, Comcast
CTAM is recognizing Paul Hockenbury for his multiyear involvement and support of CTAM research. He has guided the selection of topics, weighed in on methodology and shared his own work to advance cable marketing through consumer insights and analysis, CTAM said.
Hockenbury joined Comcast in February 2000 with the acquisition of Suburban Cable. He manages the team responsible for all of the marketing research work and the analysis team for core cable business and some of the new content launches.
Hockenbury has 20 years of experience in market research and competitive intelligence work with more than half of that within the cable business. Before getting into cable, he worked in project management for market research suppliers and in competitive intelligence for FMC Corp. Hockenbury has been an active member of CTAM serving on the Research Committee for the last nine years (co-chair in 2000-2001) and the Research Conference planning committee. He is currently co-chair of the MSO Research Committee.
Doug Hurst, Senior VP/GM, Non-Linear Distribution, Scripps Networks
CTAM is recognizing Doug Hurst for his dedication to enhancing the Mark Awards competition. “With three years of dedication and persistence, Doug continued to elevate the prestige of the award by creating a new statue, recruiting higher-level executive judges and breaking the mold with a fun-filled awards event,” CTAM said.
Hurst manages all aspects of the packaged media business for Scripps, including programming, marketing and distribution. Before his April 2008 promotion, Hurst was senior vice president and general manager of nonlinear distribution.
He was part of the original team that launched HGTV in 1994, serving as a regional manager in the network’s Detroit affiliate sales office. In 1996, he was promoted to senior director of the western region, and relocated to HGTV’s Los Angeles office. A year later, Hurst came to Knoxville as HGTV’s senior director of marketing and sales promotions.
As vice president of marketing and promotion for HGTV, Hurst oversaw the execution of the annual HGTV Dream Home Giveaway, which continues to be the network’s largest integrated promotion.
Heather McCallion, VP, East Regional Affiliate Sales, NBC Universal
Heather McCallion is credited with rebuilding CTAM’s Caribbean chapter and building it into a vibrant award-winning community with a signature event that rivals its mainland siblings.
McCallion manages NBC Universal’s eastern territory from Maine to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands along the Eastern seaboard. McCallion covers major MSO’s regional and divisional offices in the area and manages all field accounts within the territory.
She was recently instrumental in the renewal of several NBCU cable services with key distributors, including The Complete Olympics, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Oxygen, mun2, Chiller and Sleuth, along with retransmission consent for owned-and-operated NBC TV stations. She also secured the rollout of NBCU’s HD simulcast networks throughout her territory.
McCallion is currently president of CTAM’s Florida chapter and is an active member of Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT), where she completed the WICT leadership forum.
Reece Ritter, Director of Marketing Research, Cox Communications
Reece Ritter served as co-chairman of CTAM’s 2008 Research Conference which set record attendance and achieved high satisfaction scores for the meeting held Feb. 6-8 in Hollywood, Calif.
Ritter joined Cox Communications in 2004 as director of marketing research. She is responsible for primary research in support of the residential video, Internet and telephone services provided by Cox.
Before joining Cox, Ritter was vice president at market research firm TNS, where she was responsible for supporting clients in the health insurance, transportation, hospitality and consumer packaged goods industries. Ritter’s career began at The Coca-Cola Co., where she spent 16 years in the domestic and international marketing research. Ritter was responsible for developing worldwide consumer tracking programs, providing the company with a single, holistic view of the global beverage customer.
She is actively involved with CTAM participating on the organization’s Research Committee and co-chairing the the 2008 Research Conference.
Ritter resides in Atlanta, Ga., with her husband and two teenage children.
For more CTAM Summit '08 coverage, click here.
