WideOpenWest chairwoman and CEO Colleen Abdoulah has been named chair of the American Cable Association.
Abdoulah succeeds Steve Friedman, Wave Broadband COO, atop the association representing small and midsized cable operators. The ACA board elected officers at the annual Independent Show, now under way in San Francisco.
Abdoulah, a former Tele-Communications Inc. and AT&T Broadband executive before joining WOW! in 2002, had been the trade association's vice chair. She has been a prominent voice for ACA in Washington, coming to D.C. to weigh in on issues like the Comcast/NBCU merger, including in testimony in multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. At the Independent Show Monday, she urged small cable operators to keep in contact with lawmakers on key policy issues, saying "your voice makes a difference in Washington, D.C."
Board member Robert Gessner, president of Massillon Cable TV, was named to succeed Abdoulah vice chairman of ACA. Newly elected to the ACA board are James Beattie, assistant general counsel at Bevcomm; Bryan Cipoletti, CFO, Armstrong Holdings; Earle MacKenzie, COO, Shentel; and Scott Widham, CEO, Cobridge Communications.
