Five outstanding cable programming and operating executives will be honored by the 2013 executive officers and board of directors for the Southern California Chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications on Thursday night (Nov. 14) with LEA Awards.
They will be feted at a gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Phil Morris, from TV One’s comedy Love That Girl, will be master of ceremonies at the event.
Four outstanding individuals and a board member are recognized for achievements in the areas of leadership, education and advocacy, contributions to the telecommunications industry and support of WICT.
The 2013 LEA Award winners are:
Lifetime Achiever: Flory Bramnick, executive vice president, cable distribution, Sony Pictures Entertainment. She runs all U.S. cable sales operations for SPT and is responsible for feature film and television sales to cable networks and for creating strategic sales opportunities for the studio. She manages the U.S. cable sales teams in the New York and Los Angeles offices. Bramnick joined SPT in February 2002 in the newly created position of vice president, strategic sales operations, where, among other accomplishments, she created new business opportunities for the company in high definition programming, utilizing assets from SPT’s film and television libraries. She was named senior vice president, U.S. cable distribution in June 2004. Before joining SPT, Bramnick spent five years at Belo Corp. in Dallas, where she held a variety of roles in the broadcast division.
Woman of the Year: Bonnie O’Donnell, vice president, distribution marketing, Fox Cable Networks. She creates and manages distribution marketing strategies for the division’s sports and global networks and their non-linear extensions which include Fox Sports, Fox Sports Go, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox College Sports, Fox Soccer Plus, Fox’s 22 owned-and-operated regional sports networks, BTN, BTN2Go, Fox Deportes, Fox Life, Nat Geo Mundo, BabyTV, Speed (Canada and the Caribbean), and Speed 2. She also oversees marketing efforts to support Fox programming across multiple electronic sell-through (EST) providers. This past year, she developed sales materials, marketing partnerships and trade communication strategy surrounding the launch of Fox Sports 1, its corresponding TV Everywhere app, Fox Sports Go, and the rebrand of Fuel TV to Fox Sports 2.
Woman to Watch: Lizzy Paulson, events director, Time Warner Cable. She oversees the execution and management of local and national events for the company’s philanthropic outreach, including the signature Connect A Million Minds. She oversees a team that travels extensively creating impactful events that not only engage customers and employees, but move the needle on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education for our youth. Joining Time Warner Cable in 2009 from the agency ETHOS Design, she established the PacWest Special Events Sales department, participating in more than 120 events per year -- sponsorships, festivals, fairs, concerts and street team activations. In 2012, she joined the TWC Communications team as Events Manager, producing P.R. and community relations events, including a career highlight when TWC helped bring the space shuttle Endeavour home to the California Science Center.
Advocate Leader: Bill Erickson, group vice president, telesales, Time Warner Cable. He is responsible for TWC’s largest sales channel, overseeing 15 in-house, inbound-sales call centers, two in-house telemarketing centers, call center operations and third party sales call center relationships. His career in cable and telecommunications spans more than 25 years, including executive management positions at TWC, Comcast, AT&T Broadband, MediaOne and Continental Cablevision. The company notes his many successes include consistent year over year revenue and cash-flow growth. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., with a degree in marketing. He, his wife Karin, son Ryan and their daughter Micaela, reside in Los Alamitos, Calif.
Board Member of the Year: Ron Saykin, senior manager, affiliate sales & marketing, Showtime Networks. He manages the accounts of 11 cable distributors, and is responsible for developing and executing multi-channel consumer marketing campaigns and subscriber acquisition strategies, and for cultivating client relationships at all organizational levels. A recipient of the Showtime Networks Dru Strange Award in 2012 for top sales performance, he has been instrumental in expanding premium product distribution, driving market growth and subscription sales, and maximizing revenue since his arrival four years ago. Previously, he was responsible for sales and distribution at TV Guide Network in Los Angeles
A committee comprised of industry leaders selected the recipients from an impressive pool of nominations.
“This is such a special time of year as we look forward to celebrating the men and women being honored at the 21st annual WICT Southern California LEA Awards,” Molly Stone Cody, WICT Southern California Chapter president and account director for Scripps Networks Interactive, said. “This year's recipients truly embody the spirit of the LEA Awards by demonstrating true leadership, education and advocacy in this ever changing cable telecommunications industry. Congratulations to all of the 2013 LEA Award recipients. It is a true honor to work among such amazing individuals who have done so much to move our industry forward."
For additional information about WICT or the 2013 LEA Awards, visit WICT Southern California Chapter’s website at www.socalwict.org.
