weinrauch cable center group

Cox Chair / Senior Fellows

Cox Chair

The Cable Center’s support of CEM extends deeply into academia. The Cox Customer Care Initiative was launched by The Cable Center in 2005 and includes the establishment of the James M. Cox Endowed Chair for Customer Experience Management (CEM) at the University of Denver, held by Dr. Charles Patti through 2012.

As administrator of the Cox Customer Experience Management MBA concentration at the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business, The Center is deeply involved in a unique program whose circle of influence continues to expand. This includes members of the CEM team presenting curriculum abroad and fostering partnerships with international academics including Bocconi University in Milan and London Business School.

In addition, Dr. Patti and Cable Center Senior Fellow Dr. Ron Rizzuto continue work on “ROI from Customer Experience Management,” a series of scholarly case studies.

Funded with a donation from the Cox Endowment in 2006, the CEM MBA program continues to reach new heights. According to Cox Communications President Pat Esser, “this is a home run and exactly what the Cox family gave (The Cable Center) money for.”

Senior Fellows

Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center has established three academic chairs. Our Senior Fellows—Drs. Charles Patti, Ron Rizzuto, and Maria van Dessel—serve as advisors on all topics related to customer experience, strategic planning, and the day-to-day strategy and management of C5.
Charles Patti

Contact:

Email: cpatti@du.edu

Tel: 720.212.6971

Dr. Charles Patti

Dr. Patti is the James M. Cox Professor of Customer Experience Management and Senior Fellow at The Cable Center and a Professor Emeritus at the University of Denver and Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Professor Patti has deep international experience through consulting and academic appointments throughout Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia, with extensive experience in building, delivering, and evaluating curriculum in a wide range of settings, including doctoral seminars, MBA and other specialized postgraduate courses, undergraduate programs, and professional and corporate learning. He has special expertise in case method learning and has coordinated several case learning workshops, including a Harvard Business School case workshop. He was an early adopter of online teaching and learning technologies and developed several firsts in learning technology, including the first video case, the C-DIE format (interactive case learning), the online MBA (Otis Elevator Company), and most recently, the Virtual Grocery Environment for interactive learning.

Much of his teaching draws from his business and consulting experience, which includes clients in the higher education sector (The Cultural Precinct, University Libraries, Bureau of Publications, Athletic Departments, Colleges of Business, Law, and Arts, and the Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee) and in the business sector (American Newspaper Publishers Association, American Telephone Advertising, Inc., Chubb Electronic Security, Gannett, Inc., McDonald’s Corp., New Zealand Telecom, and Sunsuper, Pty. Ltd.) He has built and delivered major learning programs with consulting clients that have included Aetna Insurance, British American Tobacco, Otis Elevator, Queensland State Department of Development, Siemens, Texas Instruments, and Philip Morris. His research covers marketing communication and CE management and his work includes journal articles, book chapters, and eight books on various aspects of marketing. Recently, Dr. Patti has been conducting research on the Customer Experience (CE) Maturity Curve, CE ROI, and CE metrics. He is a past winner of the Marketing Educator of the Year Award and is recipient of the James Hershner Free Enterprise Award.

Ron Rizzuto

Contact:

Email: rrizzuto@du.edu

Tel: 303.619.5701

Dr. Ron Rizzuto

Dr. Rizzuto is a Professor of Finance at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and holds The Ron Rizzuto Chair for Excellence in International Executive Education. The endowed chair that was established in his name supports Dr. Rizzuto’s ongoing work with the Chinese Executive Media Management Program (CEMMP), which equips Chinese mid-career executives and government officials with the business skills to ensure a more successful future for China’s media industry. He has been involved with the cable industry for 30 years and is one of the leading authorities on the economics of U.S. municipal telecommunication overbuilds. Ron was inducted into Cable TV Pioneers in 2016 for his service to the cable industry. He is an honorary lifetime member of Women in Telecommunications (WICT) and received WICT’s Special Accolade Award in 1988 and 1991. Dr. Rizzuto’s teaching and research areas include: capital expenditure analysis, mergers and acquisitions, corporate financial planning, corporate restructuring, telecommunication finance and customer experience management (CEM). He has published numerous articles and regularly delivers seminars in his specialty areas. Dr. Rizzuto has received several teaching awards including the University of Denver’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the College of Business’s Cecil Puckett Teaching Award and the Daniels Institute Leadership Award from the Institute for Executive and Professional Development. Consulting clients include: KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Time Warner Cable, First Data Corporation, CableLabs, Liberty Global, Adelphia Communications, and Cox Communications.

Professor Rizzuto has extensive media expertise and has been quoted by local, regional and national press, including broadcast news and the New York Times. He is particularly adept at explaining complex financial situations of specific companies to a broader audience.

Dr. Maria van Dessel

Maria is a Senior Fellow at The Cable Center and a Research Scholar in the Department of Marketing in the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Dr. van Dessel’s principal research covers the general area of marketing communications with a focus on advertising. Her teaching assignments have included undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing, market research, marketing process and strategy, marketing communications, advertising and advertising management subjects.

She is currently engaged in a number of research and consulting projects involving expert witness research, content analysis of marketing communications in the business-to-business sector, studies in philanthropy and customer experience metrics, along with customer experience management training for the cable industry.

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