Atlanta -- Virginia Gray, former senior director of salesand marketing for Cablevision Systems Corp.'s Cablevision of Connecticut, has beennamed vice president of marketing for Cox Communications Inc.
The top marketing position at Cox -- the nation'sfifth-largest MSO, with 3.2 million subscribers -- had been vacant for nearly five monthsfollowing the resignation last year of Terry Neill, who was named vice president ofmarketing for Encore Media Group last month.
Gray will oversee development, implementation andlocal-market adaptation of Cox's marketing strategies, including sales, packaging,pricing, new products, customer retention, new-customer development, competitiveintelligence and marketing communications.
Before joining Cablevision in 1996, Gray was vice presidentof marketing and programming relations for Southern New England Telecommunications Corp.
Gray also has a packaged-goods andconsumer-products-marketing background, with experience at Procter & Gamble Co., whereshe began her career working with the Duncan Hines and Crisco brands, and later at GeneralFoods Corp., where she marketed Cool Whip.
Gray has also worked at Nestle Foods Corp., Avon Productsand Tambrands.
Cox president and CEO Jim Robbins citedGray's consumer and cable experience as making her "the ideal person" tohead Cox's marketing efforts as the company evolves "into a full-servicebroadband-communications company."
