TITLE: Senior Vice President, Production and Programming, Black Entertainment Television
WHY WE'RE WATCHING: As BET celebrates its silver anniversary, the stakes are higher. General-entertainment networks, not to mention upstart TV One, are attracting more African-American viewers. Holland, who also has responsibilities for news and public affairs, must lead the charge for improved programming overall.
SCORE ON 2004: “The creation of the ground-breaking BET Comedy Awards, the first true celebration of the greatness of African-American comedians, writers and directors, was big. It was about time that those who specialize in 'funny' be recognized for that. Secondly, our annual BET Awards show truly established itself as the preeminent awards show for African-Americans; it is a priority item on the Hollywood radar.”
WHAT'S NEXT: “The continued focus on keeping our network's technical and production resources in sync with the evolution of the industry — from high-definition programming to whatever broadband and wireless have to offer. We're also opening the development doors to produce that next wave of hot, fresh programming.”
DRIVE IN 2005: “With 2005 as BET's 25th anniversary year, it's the perfect backdrop to take the most dominant, iconic brand in the urban marketplace to even higher levels of connection with consumers.”
EXECUTIVE EVOLUTION: “It's a hope of mine long-term that more women will be afforded the opportunity to not just take part in, but actually lead the technical evolution in this business. If there's such thing as an unexplored frontier for women in the cable industry, this technical side of ledger is it.”
AT HOME, AT PLAY: “Lots of my play time parallels what I do for a living. I love entertainment — from going to the movies to hanging out in comedy clubs. I also enjoy getting back to my home state of Ohio to spread some of that laughter around as much as I can with my family.”
