The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, in partnership with Multichannel News, will celebrate the recipients of the 2019 Next Generation Leaders Awards this week. Honorees will be recognized during the NAMIC Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m., during the 33rd Annual NAMIC Conference at the New York Marriott Marquis, sponsored by Univision Communications.
The 2019 Next Generation Leaders Awards will be presented to the following executives:
• Keith F. Holmes, senior VP, residential sales, Cox Communications.
• Rashida Jones, senior VP, specials, NBC News and MSNBC, NBCUniversal.
• Satya Parimi, group VP, enterprise data, products & smart cities, Charter Communications.
These emerging executives are honored for demonstrating exceptional business acumen, while exemplifying NAMIC’s mission to educate, advocate and empower for multiethnic diversity and inclusion in the communications industry.
NAMIC will also induct the following executives into the 2019 Luminaries class:
• Ricky Frazier Jr., division VP, customer service strategy and retention, Comcast.
• Jae-Min Han, VP, law, chief counsel, Charter Communications.
• Alexis Johnson, VP, programming acquisition, Charter Communications.
• Camille C. Joseph-Goldman, regional VP, state government affairs, Charter Communications.
• Patricia Estrada Martin, SVP, service assurance, Cox Communications.
• Marcella Milliet Sciorra, VP, ad sales & product marketing, Charter Communications.
• Wayne Thompson, VP, telecoms, connectivity and capacity management, Altice USA.
“Each of these amazing Next Generation Leaders and Luminaries is a beacon that guides NAMIC, media companies, and the entire industry towards a future of extraordinary possibilities,” NAMIC president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington said. “They represent what it means when opportunity meets preparation and when visionaries have the courage to step forward and change the course of history.”
LEADERS
MSO: Keith F. Holmes
Senior VP and Head of Residential Sales Cox
Keith F. Holmes oversees a $9 billion division and is responsible for sales, retention, sales operations, sales strategy and performance, as well as multiple dwelling units. He drives sales and retention through inbound and outbound sales centers, retention centers, Cox-owned retail, third-party retail (local and big box), direct sales channels and vendors.
Prior to his role at Cox, Holmes was VP and general manager, AT&T Mobility.
He received his bachelor’s degree in management from Georgia Tech and his MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Holmes also dedicates time to nonprofit community service, serving as a board member for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta and Gwinnett Technical College. He lives with his wife, Bridget, and their two children, Kaci and Keith, in Atlanta.
PROGRAMMER: Rashida Jones
Senior VP of Specials NBC News and MSNBC
Rashida Jones spearheads cross-platform coverage and special news productions, major planned news events and long-form specials, as well as live breaking news reports, for both NBC News and MSNBC. Her responsibilities include election nights, primary and presidential debates, political conventions and other major coverage initiatives. She also leads the NBC News Decision Desk, a team of data scientists responsible for making all race call decisions on primary and election nights.
She is a graduate of Hampton University, where she was inducted into the Scripps Howard Journalism Hall of Fame. She is also an ambassador for the Alliance for Women in Media, a board member of the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Association of Black Journalists.
TECHNOLOGY: Satya Parimi
Group VP, Data Products and Smart Cities Spectrum Enterprise
Satya Parimi is group VP of data products and smart cities for Spectrum Enterprise, a suite of scalable, fiber-based technology solutions offered by Charter to many of America’s largest businesses and communications service providers. Parimi manages the Data Product portfolio, driving product performance and creating new services, including Spectrum Smart Cities.
He previously held leadership roles in product management, new business development and corporate strategy. Parimi started his telecommunications career in technology startups.
Parimi earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and executive leadership certification from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California through the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program.
LUMINARIES
Ricky Frazier Jr.
Division VP, Customer Service Strategy and Retention, Comcast
Ricky Frazier Jr. has a proven 16-year track record of developing innovative strategies designed to improve the Comcast customer experience. In his current role, he is responsible for end-to-end customer experience initiatives and process improvement in the Central Division, comprising 13 states and more than 10 million customers. He is also responsible for shaping the employee experience of over 6,000 professionals through employee engagement and communications. Frazier has served as a formal and informal mentor to countless professionals of all ethnicities across Comcast and the industry. He has helped to guide cultural transformations and to catapult the success of multiple professionals and leaders at Comcast. His leadership has resulted in major customer experience improvements and operational efficiencies.
Jae-Min Han
VP, Chief Counsel, Spectrum Networks
Jae Min-Han counsels and advises Spectrum Networks, Charter’s news and regional sports network businesses, on a range of issues, including licensing, content production and distribution, newsroom and editorial matters, and marketing and sponsorships. Prior to joining Spectrum, she was an associate at the law firm Akin Gump, where she worked with NY1 News — a role that ultimately led her to join the company to work on litigation, advertising and marketing review and newsroom matters. She is a graduate of SUNY-Binghamton and University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Alexis Johnson
VP of Programming Acquisition, Charter
At Charter, Alexis Johnson leads negotiations for distribution agreements and develops programming strategies that accelerate subscription growth with general market and multicultural consumers. From DirecTV to Verizon to Time Warner Cable/Charter, Johnson has worked on the front lines of content delivery to consumers and continues to help shape industry standards for programming operations and content acquisition.
Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s in communications management from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the Southwestern University School of Law. A strong believer in the power of community service, Johnson is a board director for the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and personally supports NAMIC, the T. Howard Foundation and other community-service organizations.
Camille C. Joseph-Goldman
Regional VP, Government Affairs, Charter
Camille C. Joseph-Goldman oversees and manages government affairs, strategic partnerships and investments, consumer protection and telecommunications regulation from New Jersey to Maine. Previously, she worked in politics and public policy, serving as New York City’s youngest appointed deputy comptroller, as director of intergovernmental affairs and special adviser to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), as well as national African-American vote deputy director for the 2012 Obama presidential campaign. Born and raised in the Bronx, Camille earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in politics and history from New York University, where she was a Presidential Scholar. She serves on the National Action Network board and is a trustee for the Citizens Budget Commission of New York City.
Patricia Estrada Martin
Senior VP, Service Assurance, Cox
Patricia Estrada Martin oversees the network operations centers (NOCs) and Tier 2 support teams for both residential and Cox Business support models, with an enhanced focus on the customer experience and process governance. She joined Cox Communications in 2005 as a senior manager and has since held numerous positions, such as director of network services in Oklahoma and VP of engineering and operations for Cox’s Northeast team in 2012. In 2015, she joined Cox’s Atlanta team as VP of service assurance, and streamlined the NOC to one operating model in 2017. Martin has led several key initiatives at Cox, including the creation of the first national team of virtual construction estimators and Cox’s first-generation Video Back Office National COE. She resides in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband and four children.
Marcella Milliet Sciorra
VP of Ad Sales & Product Marketing, Spectrum Reach
Marcella Sciorra oversees marketing for all Spectrum Reach products, including local linear advertising inventory, advanced ad products and more. She manages a team of 25 ad-sales and product-marketing professionals who support sales teams in 41 states and nearly 100 designated marketing areas. Prior to joining Spectrum Reach, she managed new business development and spearheaded marketing strategy for global brands, including Unilever and NFL International. She is an alumna of NAMIC’s Executive Leadership Development Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing’s Cable Executive Management program at Harvard University, and the University of Santa Ursula in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She lives in Palisades, New York, with her husband Nick and two children.
Wayne Thompson
VP, Telecoms, Connectivity and Capacity Management, Altice USA
Wayne Thompson oversees voice engineering and operations, voice and data expense management, vendor relationship, contract management and circuits and capacity management for Altice. He is also a board member of the Black Employee Affinity Network. Prior to joining Altice, Thompson owned a telecom and engineering company and worked at Verizon. He earned his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Columbia. Thompson is founder and executive director of Strategic Opportunities Achieving Results (S.O.A.R.!) a nonprofit organization focused on mentorship, scholarship and educational assistance. He also is a board member of Urban League of Long Island, Child Care Council of Nassau and Bethel Christian Church. He is the chief organizer of the Long Island Entrepreneurship Conference.
