Kathleen Marron

Kathleen Marron

Interview Date: Wednesday December 22, 1999
Interviewer: Ruth Hartman
Collection: WICT 20th Anniversary Collection Project

MARRON: I’m Kathleen Marron. I’m a partner at Robbins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi.

INTERVIEWER: How did you initially become involved in Women in Cable and Telecommunications?

MARRON: Well, I first became involved because I heard about the organization from Madie Gustafson, who is with AT&T Broadband and Net Services now. And at the time, I think she was still at United and was on the national board and had told me about it. And I represent a number of cable companies in the industry. I’m a lawyer in a law firm.

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Well, I know during your presidential year, the membership at WICT climbed to 3,500. Was that a special achievement for you?

MARRON: Well, yes. I think that climbing to 3,500 numbers was one of the great achievements of the organization when I was on the board and was president. I think perhaps an even greater one my year of presidency is the strategic plan that we developed to prepare us into the next millennium. It was a great deal of fun and I learned a lot through the experience and some very interesting and powerful women contributed to that strategic plan.

INTERVIEWER: Could you talk about how WICT helped you grow professionally?

MARRON: Sure. WICT has helped me grow professionally in a number of different ways. Not only through leadership and being able to serve as president of the organization and run the board of director meetings and all of that. The public speaking that I’ve done. Obviously, as a lawyer, what I do is public speaking for a living. But it’s given me an opportunity to talk to professional women all over the country about a number of issues that are–I feel passionate about leadership, mentoring, advocacy.

INTERVIEWER: Well, could you talk about your attitude towards mentoring? Do you have a philosophy towards mentoring young women and young men in the profession.

MARRON: I do have a philosophy about mentoring. I think that some people are intimidated by the word because it really doesn’t have to be something more complicated that simply making sure that you’re always including people who are junior to you in your decision making processes and in the process of–blah, blah, blah. Let’s start that one over.

INTERVIEWER: Alright. Video tape is wonderful that way. And if I ask you something you don’t want to answer, we can–

MARRON: What was the question?

INTERVIEWER: Do you have a philosophy of mentoring?

MARRON: Well, I do. It’s simply that mentoring is a way of life. And I don’t think you have to have some special title. Because a mentor can come in all different shapes and sizes. In fact, I feel like I’ve been mentored by people who work for me. As long as you’re open to learning as–and being mentored by someone else, you have a lot more opportunities for that. That’s my approach to mentoring, is to always be thinking about it. And I think that it’s critically important especially for women to have some role models and mentors in order to succeed. It’s important for everyone, but since we don’t have a lot of female role models, to have a mentor, I think, is very important.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have any special role models in your life who mentored you?

MARRON: Yes. I have. Most of my mentors in the legal profession have been men. I mean, in the cable industry, it’s one of the things that really attracted me to the cable industry. Is there are so many women at all different levels of the companies in the industry. Even though we still have a long ways to go, it’s so much more advanced than the legal profession. I can assure you. So, all of my mentors have been men in the legal profession. But I have a number of role models of women in the cable industry.

INTERVIEWER: Well, why do you think there are more women in higher positions in the cable industry than the legal profession?

MARRON: Well, the legal profession is still pretty traditional. And I don’t think as entrepreneurial–any where near as entrepreneurial as any communications field.

INTERVIEWER: I was just curious. I know that you’ve made plenty of lists, like 40 under 40, the Twin Cities Award. And obviously you’re very successful. Could you just describe to me some of the key elements of your personal success?

MARRON: That was the question I don’t want to answer. Well, I’ll do my best. Answer your question about the key elements of my personal success assumes that I have been successful. So, I guess having modesty and a sense of humor have brought me through a lot of different situations. I think that one of the elements of my success has been that I’ve embraced being a women and a female litigator in a predominantly male world. Surviving many things such as one of my first trials when the judge ordered me to make copies of my opponent’s exhibit and I was the only female lawyer in the courtroom. And so I just stood up and said, “Well, my paralegal would be happy to show Mr. Johnson how to use the copy machine.” And while the judge wasn’t too happy for me, the jury was rolling in the aisles and they thought that was great. And as long as you keep your sense of humor, I think that people a lot of times underestimated me. Because I was a woman and because I was petite and smaller, they automatically assumed I was younger and less experienced than I was. And still do to this day. So, far from hurting me, I think being a woman has helped me in many respects. As long as you allow it to work for you and don’t work it against you.

INTERVIEWER: I’m going to ask you a balance question. So you can tell me about balancing professional [???]

MARRON: The balance question? [???] What was the question again?

INTERVIEWER: Okay. A lot of young folks today are worried about balance. How they can find some equilibrium between their personal life and their professional life. Do you have any advice for young folks and how to achieve balance?

MARRON: Well, first of all, I think life balance is an unattainable goal. And it’s a much over used word. I probably look at it more as life’s integration. I think the only way you can truly juggle all of these different roles that we have as mother, lawyer, leader, business counselor of my clients and also have a personal life is to integrate all of those roles. So what I try to do is make my clients my friends, my friends my clients. Sometimes some of my client functions we’ll all bring our children to the function as well. And so I try to integrate as much as I can. Some of the Women in Cable meetings, for example, I brought my son to one of the board meetings. And I try to combine, when I’m traveling, personal and professional purposes for every trip. So that I’m doing more than one thing at a time in trying to integrate those roles. So that I’m not feeling like I’m juggling it. Because I think you tend to drop the ball.

MARRON: Okay. You asked me about life balance and I prefer to call it life integration. [???]. I think it’s so difficult to achieve that integration of all of your different roles as mother and lawyer and leader and being involved in Women in Cable has helped me immensely in that as I see other woman I respect and admire and are friends of mine facing the same challenges. And it’s been very inspirational to me. Is that better? No?

INTERVIEWER: That’s a great answer.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me a little bit about what you do. I mean, exactly.

MARRON: Well, I’m a partner in a law firm. And I practiced there for 17 years. Got started in the cable industry in a very different way than other people because what I did is I represented a cable operator in a city in a lawsuit. A first amendment and anti-trust lawsuit. And through that case, which we won in the early 80s, I met Amos Hostetter and I met a number of people in the industry. Bob Myron was one of my expert witnesses and Jerry Lindauer and it’s a veritable who’s who of the cable industry. And through that, it just kind of snowballed and grew from that. And I’ve been blessed to have just terrific people to work with. And while there are a lot of women in the industry, which is one of the great, I think, it’s a great advantage this industry has over other industries, and it also makes it more exciting for me. The men in this industry are a lot more interesting and inclusive than men I’ve worked with in other industries. Because I do represent other industries. And through the last many years, I’ve represented a lot of different industries. And I keep coming back to this industry because it’s my favorite.

INTERVIEWER: Well, the thing is, is it’s–what’s neat about it is just where they all came from to get their–where they started to where they are today in such a short period of time.

MARRON: That’s right. And it’s very inspiring to see so many women heads of organizations and CEOs. We still need more women in the board room. And there haven’t been as many changes in the last decade as I would have expected. But still we’re doing so much better than the United States as a whole and other industries in general.

INTERVIEWER: So, what did you think of Amos Hostetter?

MARRON: Oh, I think he’s–he was delightful and very–this was a long time ago. We’re talking the early 1980s when I last dealt with him. But he had quite–he was very visionary.

MARRON: It’s exciting to have him come back into this industry.

INTERVIEWER: Actually, it’s exciting for him, too. We just did the vignette on him for the Hall of Fame inductee.

MARRON: Oh, okay.

INTERVIEWER: And just the people that we interviewed and just everybody who talks about him, just being a people person like he is.

MARRON: He is a people person. And he truly made an effort after we won that case for him to introduce me and others of my partners to all of his friends in the industry. He’s a very loyal person.

INTERVIEWER: Could you tell me about your attitude towards mentoring?

MARRON: Well, I think that mentoring is critically important to the advancement of people. You don’t come to these companies and these professions with prepared instructions on how to succeed. And there are a lot of different paths to success. I firmly believe that. We all have to find the best path, that best suits ourselves for our own personality. I liken it to, well, when I–in another life, I was a jazz musician. I played in a jazz band. And before performing, a lot of what goes into a performance is learning all of the scales. And you learn them so well that when–by the time you do perform, no one would ever guess that you had spent hours on scales and everything because it doesn’t sound like that. Well, that’s a lot of what mentoring is. You need to take sources from all different sources of information, knowledge, teaching and coaching in order to succeed. And that’s what mentoring is to me. It’s why it’s so important to me to pass it onto others. Knowledge I’ve learned. And to also be open to be mentored by people junior to me. I’ve learned from associates who worked for me. From chapter presidents when I was on the board, who had great ideas about what we should be doing nationally. Now, as long as you don’t let your ego get in the way about the source of where the information was coming from, I think you can continue to learn even if you don’t have some figurehead mentor who is more senior than you. Which a lot of times I didn’t have. Most of my mentors were men in the legal profession.

INTERVIEWER: Have you found that being a woman has been a detriment or an enhancement to your career in law?

MARRON: Well, in law, it’s kind of a mixture of both I would say. It’s been an enhancement in that–I mean, I love being a woman. I don’t try to be a man. And I think back when I first graduated from law school, that was in the days of the floppy bow ties when we were all supposed to try to look like men. And that just was never me. And I was very comfortable being myself. People tended to underestimate me being female and I look a lot more youthful than I actually am. Even though they covered up a lot of the wrinkles with this make-up. But because of that, people tended to underestimate me. And I took them by surprise. And as long as I had a sense of humor and I didn’t ever let it get me down, I knew what–that I could do the job. I think that it was an enhancement and made me a stronger person. Was it a detriment? Definitely, in terms of opportunities. I don’t think that there are as many opportunities once you get more senior in your career. Especially in law. I’ve been blessed to have a quick track to partnership. And I think one of the reasons I’ve been successful is I represent this industry. An advocate on behalf of this industry. And it is entrepreneurial and has been more accepting of me as a young woman than other industries I have represented.

INTERVIEWER: Well, could we talk a little bit about barriers to women’s achievements? There was a lot of talk in the early 90s about the glass ceiling. Do you think there ever was a glass ceiling? Does it still exist?

MARRON: Was there ever a glass ceiling? Definitely. I don’t necessarily like that term, but I can’t think of a better one. Because it really is invisible. I didn’t used to think that there was one. And I think a lot of women starting out nowadays think that there isn’t one because they see so many women at the entry levels and the middle management levels. But when you get to the very top of the companies, that’s when you experience it. And I see friends of mine, colleagues of mine going through it. Even in this industry. And this industry is better than most. The Women in Cable and Telecommunications–the pay equity gap studies that we’ve done in different sectors of the industry show that there still is a gap. Now, the good news is, it’s less than it is nationally. Because I think it’s over 20% nationally. But definitely a glass ceiling did exist. Many have broken through it. But some still have not. And I think there are a lot of reasons for that.

INTERVIEWER: Are you satisfied with the progress that women have made in corporate America at large?

MARRON: No. Because I think if you become satisfied with how far you’ve come, then you become complacent and then that’s the next step towards falling backwards again. I think we still have a long ways to go. But I’m pleased at the progress that we’ve made. I’m disappointed that we aren’t further along in having women in the board room today than we were ten years ago. I don’t see significant changes in that area of advancement.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think parity between men and women is possible within the next five or ten years?

MARRON: Well, it depends, I think that we’ve achieved it at some levels of companies. And I don’t–it depends on what you mean by parity. Because if you mean pure equality so that there’s no difference between men and women, I think there are some differences. I think at the leadership level, my belief anyway, is that while there are differences between men and women that personality and experience leads to greater differences in leadership styles. So I don’t think that men or women are inherently better qualified to lead. They are both equally qualified to lead. But they may choose to lead in a different manner. Let me just explain what I mean by that. I don’t necessarily believe that just because men and women are different, that those differences mean that a man is inherently able to lead and a woman isn’t. Or vice versa. That all women are more compassionate and so they’re going to be inclusive because I know women who aren’t. And I tend to be more of a driver personality and I think that–I have to fight that in order to be a more inclusive type of leader, which is the type of leader I want to be. But that doesn’t come naturally to me. So, I think that one of the differences in why we haven’t seen parity, yet, at the leadership level and why I’m not optimistic we’re not going to see it in the next five years is there still are attitudinal barriers and structural barriers to equality.

INTERVIEWER: Has your leadership style been influenced by gender? Do you think you have modified your leadership style over the course of your career?

MARRON: Oh, definitely. What comes naturally to me to be a driver sort of–the model that has been very successful in the past. But I think most learning organizations and companies are moving a little bit away from that. It’s the traditionally male model of command and control. And that was definitely–that’s what came naturally to me. What Women in Cable has taught me through the many different seminars and management conferences I’ve not only attended by led over the years, is to develop other different types of leadership styles when I’m in different situations. So, that I’m not just stuck in a rut and stuck with one style–the one that’s most comfortable for me. So, I definitely try to be more inclusive, more of a transformational leader. But there are times when you just need to give a direction and the job needs to get done. So the great benefit I’ve gained from involvement in Women in Cable is not only being able to learn all these things, but then to practice them with different groups of people to see what motivates and what can lead–best lead–different groups of people and different personalities.

INTERVIEWER: Can you talk about some of your more memorable events with Women in Cable? Was there an event in particular that you’re particularly proud of?

MARRON: Well, I’m definitely proud of the organization–the growth and the gala over the years. The first gala I hosted as president was when Julius Font was honored. And it was, I think, our first sell-out and it was just a fabulous event. And Mary Chapin Carpenter was terrific. And it just keeps getting better and better each year since then so I think those events have been great. Another very powerful event for me was the CEO forum last year. I was very privileged and fortunate to be invited to join this group of powerful women and go through the leadership forum at the CEO level. It was a real career changing life direction changing event for me.

INTERVIEWER: Was there a lesson in particular you learned at that event that you keep with you?

MARRON: Well, not any particular lesson. It was an intense two days of getting together with other professional women who are at very high levels in their organizations and talking about a wide variety of things from business issues to leadership challenges that we all face. And then some very inspirational speakers. Kay Koplpvitz talking to us about entrepreneurialship. It was Faith Popcorn on helping us to look at the world from a different perspective and anticipate trends. All of that helped me in formulating my own personal and professional plans and help me see them evolve.

INTERVIEWER: I know you were involved in the strategic planning initiative at WICT. How do you see WICT changing in the next five or ten years?

MARRON: Okay. I was a part of the strategic plan we put together. And we have a lot of goals for our organization in the next five to ten years. What I would hope to see us achieve is really making a difference for women. And not to get too distracted with so many projects and events that we lose sight of who we truly are and who we are here to serve. And that is to help promote women. I don’t mean promote women within the traditional corporate ladder sense of the word. But I mean promote in the sense of acknowledging them and recognizing them for their contributions to this industry. And helping provide some tools for the companies in this industry and the women to eliminate some of these attitudinal and structural barriers. So that eventually there will be no need for a Women in Cable and Telecommunications.

INTERVIEWER: Have you seen change within the industry and within corporate America at large since you began your career? Attitudinal and structural shifts that benefit women?

MARRON: Well, I’ve definitely seen structural shifts. The child care initiative and work life initiative that Women in Cable and Telecommunications started has been embraced by a number of companies in this industry. And that’s very inspiring and that’s not true in many other industries. And especially in my own legal profession. We have some child care initiatives in our firm and we have for some time. But I think we’re kind of the exception. And they aren’t as extensive as some of the companies here. I think that those kinds of changes are definitely going to help women advance. And people advance. But more likely, a woman is more likely to have a spouse who works outside of the home. And so, it’s going to have a greater impact on women’s advancement, I think, to change the work place so that it makes it more family-friendly. So that we can make a distinction between what a company prefers and what they really need to do to get the business done or the job done. Maybe the company would prefer to have a meeting on Saturday, but it’s not essential to get the job done. And there are a lot of structural changes like that, that I’ve seen already being made.

INTERVIEWER: Well, I know you have an interesting philosophy about life balance. Could you speak to that?

MARRON: Well, I do. I don’t think that life balance is truly achievable when you have as many roles as we all have without integrating those roles. So, I try to integrate my roles of mother and wife and

(End of recording on Side B.)

MARRON: When you have as many roles as we all have without integrating those roles. So I try to integrate my roles of mother and wife and trial lawyer and partner in a law firm and business counselor and advisor and advocate for people in the industry and also a leader in this organization. So, I try to combine several different things. The last board of directors meeting, for example, I brought my son, as did–I was past president and the president brought her son and the vice president brought her daughter and they all played together while we were in our business meeting. In fact, they had to tell–digress a little and tell a little funny story. My son was sitting next to me in the board meeting and looking around the room and afterwards he turns to me and he says, “Who are the–isn’t this Women in Cable?” And I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Well, I saw a couple of men in there. Do they work for you?” He was very cute.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me how you initially began working as litigator in the cable industry?

MARRON: I had a different sort of start in the industry from a lot of lawyers who represent this industry. Instead of doing regulatory work at first, I–our firm represented a cable operator in [???] City in a lawsuit that involved First Amendment and anti-trust claims. And after we won, obviously the client was very happy and Amos Hotstetter, throughout the course of that case and subsequent cases, Amos Hotstetter was very instrumental in introducing me and others in my firm to a lot of the people he knew in the industry. He’s a very loyal person. And very visionary. Through the course of that representation, I–Bob Myron was one of my expert witnesses, as was Jerry Lindauer and they introduced me to others. And just through the years I got into it through trying cases and handling litigation for a number of companies. But through that experience, got to know their businesses in this industry and so started doing regulatory work and business counseling. And that truly is as much a passion of mine as litigation.

INTERVIEWER: When you began your career with the cable industry, what was the most striking aspect of this industry?

MARRON: Well, the first thing I noticed is I–In another life I was also in the Army Reserves. And I was impressed by how many acronyms there were. And then I realized the military didn’t have anything on the cable industry once I joined the industry. In fact, I have a glossary of acronyms because it’s hard to keep them all straight. And they keep expanding. But on a more serious note, there are definitely more women at all levels of the companies in this industry. As compared to other industries I’ve represented. And that was very refreshing and exciting. Equally important is the men seemed more inclusive. They were more willing to take a chance on a young woman lawyer who looked young and being lead lawyer on (Inaudible) Marron and Jack Clifford were wonderful in retaining me to be lead counsel on a critical case for their company.

INTERVIEWER: Is there any question that I haven’t asked you? Something that you want to say about the industry at large? Or women in society? Or WICT?

INTERVIEWER: I have a question. You were–you made a comment as far as WICT, you know, hopefully, you know, we’re progressing where we won’t need a WICT in the future. Do you honestly feel that there wouldn’t be a need for WICT in the future. Because we’ve had a lot of people say as far as the typical [???] of WICT, maybe that part of it we wouldn’t need, but the organization itself, they would like this to be continued.

MARRON: Well, I’d like to see it continue just because it’s a lot of fun. And it’s also made me realize how important it is for women to get together and makes me realize why it’s important for guys to get together, too. So, I hope we progress to the point where it’s no big deal and the whole subject of power doesn’t get interwoven into the question of whether we’re having women’s only group or men’s only group. One of the critical–

NTERVIEWER: It was the–do you think there will be a day where we won’t need WICT? Or what are the advantages o [???] associations?

MARRON: Well, I think one of the advantages of Women in Cable and Telecommunications is that we also have men members. And you don’t have to be a women to embrace our mission. Which is really to empower women to achieve their personal and professional goals. But I don’t know if there will be a time when we won’t need Women in Cable and Telecommunications. I know I’ve said that. I hope that there’s a time when we don’t need it as a support network because we’re facing inequalities in the work place or some barriers that men don’t face. But that rather, it can be a networking group. One of the things that Women in Cable has taught me is the power of women getting together and sharing their life experiences and their personal and professional experiences. It’s also helped me to realize why it is that men want to have meetings just of men to talk about things. Where we get into trouble is where we mix business in with that and all of our business decisions are made in the context of the female only or male only environment and I don’t think that that is healthy. And I’m hoping that in the future we won’t need a Women in Cable and Telecommunications for that purpose. Because women will be included in the board room for business decisions. Even more than they are today.

INTERVIEWER: Alright, well thank you.

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Scott McArthur

Scott McArthur

Chief Revenue Officer

Statflo

As CRO, Scott leads the company’s Sales, Partnerships and Customer divisions. With over 15 years of experience across consumer retail and technology sectors, Scott’s focus has always been to improve the customer experience through profitable interactions. Prior to joining Statflo, he managed Sales and Marketing teams at Telus, one of Canada’s largest Telecommunications companies, responsible for bringing innovative solutions to the frontline teams in the SMB and Consumer segments. During his career, he has built high performing teams and developed programs that drive engagement and revenue growth.

Camilla Formica

Camilla Formica

Chief Program Officer

Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center

Camilla Formica leads experiential programs and thought leadership to empower and embolden industry innovators. In collaboration with The Cable Center team, she delivers on the organization’s mandate to support leaders defining a new era for the industry.

Camilla’s career spans more than 30 years with deep experience cultivating strategic partnerships and creating programs that provide people with the skills and confidence to increase their impact. Previously, she served as Chief Revenue Officer and minority owner at NCTI and drove sales efforts at International Fiber Communications as Corporate Vice President, Sales. She also held leadership roles at Metromedia/WorldCom and ICG. She began her career at Metromedia Communications in Southern California.

Celebrated by the industry for her leadership and mentorship, Camilla was named to the 56th Class of Cable TV Pioneers and was recognized by The WICT Network-Rocky Mountain as Mentor of the Year in May of 2022. She supports women leaders as vice president of that organization and has led and served on NTCA and PACE advisory councils. A breast cancer survivor, Camilla is a Model of Courage for the Ford Warriors in Pink ambassadorship program. She remains a minority owner of NCTI and serves on the company’s board.

Mark Snow

Mark Snow

SVP, Consumer Marketing & Insights

CTAM

Mark has been a marketer in the communications and broadband industry for 22 years with experience in marketing strategy, consumer insights, analytics, digital marketing and traditional media marketing. Mark is currently Senior Vice President & General Manager of Consumer Marketing & Insights for CTAM, the Cable Industry’s marketing association. In this role, he leads the MSO Marketing Cooperative, a consortium of the largest cable companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with a team focused on consumer marketing, analytics and consumer research. The team leads a number of councils focused on industry best practices and manages the National Mover Marketing Program for its U.S. members.

Prior to CTAM, Mark was VP of Marketing Strategy & Analytics for Swire, a Los Angeles-based boutique advertising agency. Before Swire, Mark was with Cox Communications for eight years, where he held roles of increasing responsibility in marketing. Before joining the Cable Industry, Mark spent seven years in the wireless industry with GTE Wireless, now a part of Verizon.

Mark holds a B.A. degree cum laude in Music History, Theory and Composition from the College of Charleston and an M.B.A. with honors from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Charles Patti

Charles Patti

Senior Fellow & Cox Chair

Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center

Charles (Chuck) 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.

Dr. Patti holds a A.B. (history and literature), an M.S. (advertising) and a Ph.D., all from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

Rodrigo Duclos

Rodrigo Duclos

Chief Digital Officer

Claro Brasil

Rodrigo Modesto Duclos is graduated in Electric Engineering and holds an MBA in Strategy and Marketing where he developed a structural analysis of the Brazilian Cable industry in 1999.

Rodrigo began his career in NET Sul, a cable start-up back in 1994 and worked for different companies in the telecom industry (Claro, Promon, LogicaCMG). Since the early days he has been involved with many innovative projects in telecommunications such as the introduction of broadband in Brazil (Cable Modems), Mobile pre-paid services, SMS, Ring-tones, MMS, Mobile Internet (GPRS/Edge, WAP), Digital TV (DVB), VOD and IP Video among others.

Currently Rodrigo is leading the digital transformation projects in Claro Brasil Group (NET, Embratel and Claro) as the Chief Digital Officer.

Bob Bartelt

Bob Bartelt

Director of Customer Experience Operations

Midco

Bob Bartelt joined Midco in 2014, and in 2018 became Director of Customer Experience Operations. In this role, Bob leads the day-to-day operations of all customer support groups ensuring that Midco is providing a world-class experience at every customer touchpoint. Bob came to Midco with 10 years of industry experience as an operations manager and site leader for a business process outsourcing company.

He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in business management and currently serves as the Board President for his local youth hockey organization. Bob is also a 2016 graduate of the Leadership Fargo Moorhead West Fargo class through the FMWF Chamber of Commerce and was named to Prairie Business magazines “40 under 40” list in 2019.

Diane Christman

Diane Christman

President and CEO

Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center

Diane Christman leads The Cable Center’s work to build on the activation of Vision 2025, the expansion of the Intrapreneurship Academy, and the investment in creating a vibrant community for resource and idea sharing through thought leadership. She will advance the Vision 2025 strategic planning initiative implementation in collaboration with The Cable Center team and board after co-leading the effort in 2020 and 2021.

Diane brings 30 years of experience building partnerships that drive growth and create value. She is respected for her diplomatic style and global perspective, valued by an industry inventing the future of high-quality video content and Gigabit-speed connectivity for residential and business customers in U.S. and international markets. Diane joined The Cable Center in 2006 as vice president, marketing and development. She was promoted to senior vice president, programs and development in 2009 and senior vice president, development and chief program officer in 2019. She became president and CEO in January of 2022.

Since she joined The Cable Center, Diane has been responsible for creation of The Center’s $10 million Chairman’s Fund endowment campaign (approaching completion); partnerships supporting The Cable Center’s Mavericks Lecture Series, Cable Mavericks Masters Forum, and Cable Center Customer Centric Consortium (C5) initiatives; increasingly successful Cable Hall of Fame events; and organizational re-branding.

Simón Tadeo

Simón Tadeo

Customer Experience Director

Telecom Argentina

Simón Tadeo is the Customer Experience Director at Telecom, the leading telecommunications company in Argentina. Telecom main brands are Personal (Mobile), Fibertel (Broadband), Arnet (ADSL Broadband) and Cablevisión (TV). For corporate customers Telecom main brands are Fibercorp & Telecom Negocios.

Simón began his career at Cablevision in 1998 and has held various positions, including Client Retention Coordinator, Business Analyst, Head of Administration & Control and Sales Integration Manager. In 2008, after the merger between Cablevision and Multicanal, Simón assumed responsibility for the creation and integration of the new business processes.

From November 2009, Simón led the Open Project—a three-year business transformation project that deployed a new CRM, billing system, workforce management, mobile, & BI systems in Cablevisión, Fibertel and Fibercorp. For the next three years, Simón focused on improving customer experience for Cablevisión – Fibertel, fostering Innovation across the company and leading a cross company Project Management Team. From June 2016 until January 2018, Simón was responsible for the leadership of the Sales & Customer Care management teams, which included accountability for sales and churn, contact centers, digital channels, retail stores, business processes and customer insights.

In February 2018, following the merger of Telecom and Cablevision, Simón was appointed the Customer Experience Director of the newly-formed company, Telecom Argentina.

Simón holds a degree in Business Administration from the UCA (University Católica Argentina) and studies in Marketing at UCES (University of Business and Social Sciences).

Maureen Moore

Maureen Moore

Chief Customer Experience Officer

GCI

In her current position, Maureen is responsible for the overall customer experience strategy of GCI. With more than 20 years of telecom experience, she previously served as Vice President of Consumer Services, with marketing and operations responsibility for GCI’s consumer products, including wireless, Internet, cable TV, and wireline services. She also served on the Alaska Broadband Task Force from 2011-2014 which produced a plan for accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband technology across Alaska. She graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Business Administration, double majoring in Finance and Management. Maureen is currently based out of Anchorage, Alaska.

Kimberly Gibson

Kimberly Gibson

Sr. Director Customer Operations

Cable ONE/Sparklight

Kimberly Gibson is the Senior Director of Customer Operations. As a key member of the Customer Operations Team, she is responsible for aligning strategy with company goals and objectives, testing and implementation of solutions and best practices to improve the customer experience across Cable ONE/Sparklight’s 42 systems and three inbound call centers. Kim has responsibilities for over 300 Cable ONE/Sparklight associates.

She joined Cable ONE/Sparklight in 2004 as Office Manager of Cable ONE/Sparklight’s technical Solution Center. In 2005, she was promoted to General Manager, assuming full responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the 150-seat center currently averaging 88,000 calls a month. Kim was promoted in August 2005 to the General Manager of Cable ONE/Sparklight’s national inbound Customer Care call center and was responsible for all aspects of the center’s daily operation, including but not limited to, strategy planning, leadership coaching and metric achievement. In January 2008, Kim was promoted to Director of Virtual Operations responsible for the operations of the Virtual Call centers in Cable ONE/Sparklight’s local markets.

Prior to joining the Cable ONE/Sparklight leadership team, Kim gained vast experience in the communications industry where she began her career with Qwest Communications in 1991. After advancing to a Network Operations Supervisor position in 1997, her quality focus resulted in a promotion to Network Operations Manager for Qwest’s Arizona dispatch centers.

Kimberly graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a B.S. in Hospitality Management and earned an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.

Suzanne Foy

Suzanne Foy

VP, Customer Care Partner Management Strategy and Cox Business Support

Cox Communications

Suzanne leads Cox customer care outsource partner management, strategy, program management and Cox business customer support. Previous roles include customer support, billing and payment experiences across call center and online channels, customer-focused process standardization, user-focused knowledge management, communications and agent education.

Eric Burton

Eric Burton

Vice President, Tools, Technology, and Quality

Comcast

Eric Burton is Vice President, Tools, Technology, and Quality overseeing desktop tools, customer facing support tools and content, ITGs and troubleshooting solutions, quality, performance management, and coaching. He plays an important role in developing Customer Service strategy at Comcast, working closely with his peers across the Divisions, National COEs, and Headquarters. Eric is squarely focused on Comcast’s goal to make the customer experience the best product, through ensuring that employees and customers have the best possible tools, and that quality and coaching programs reinforce and support that goal. Eric is focused on identifying winning behaviors that will help build a culture of Ownership at all levels of the organization.

Prior to joining Comcast, Eric was Group Vice President, Care Shared Services at Time Warner Cable. In that role, Eric was responsible for outsourced operations, alternative care channels, reporting and analytics, care technology, quality and customer perspective, and voice operations. Eric also held a variety of executive Operations and Technology leadership positions at Time Warner Cable, and having worked his way up through the ranks has extensive front-line leadership experience as well.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, is a graduate of the Tuck School of Business Executive Program, and completed the CTAM Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

He resides in his native Southern California with his wife and two daughters and enjoys time with family, trail running, mountain-biking, and generally being outdoors as much as possible.

Wyatt Barnett

Wyatt Barnett

Senior Director, Industry and Association Affairs

NCTA - The Internet & Television Association

Wyatt Barnett serves as Senior Director, Technology Enablement in NCTA’s Creative Services department. He helps the association with creative technical solutions while concurrently serving as lead curator and tour guide for NCTA’s recently renovated Public Advocacy Space.

Wyatt has worked at NCTA in a variety of technology roles since joining the association in 2000. He worked on the team that crafted the annual trade show – The Cable Show and later INTX – for over a decade, successfully delivering and scaling industry exhibits and stage presentations for high-profile audiences.

Rob Stoddard

Robert (Rob) Stoddard

Retired

NCTA - The Internet & Television Association

Following a career in journalism and government, Rob Stoddard worked for more than three decades in senior positions in communications, public relations, and public affairs serving the cable industry.

Rob’s early career found him working as a news assistant at the Washington, DC, bureau of ABC Radio, followed by stints as a news director and correspondent for radio stations in Keene, NH and Springfield, MA. He went on to work as a desk editor and regional executive for United Press International in Boston, before joining the staff of U.S. Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-KS) as Press Secretary in Washington, DC. His cable career began as Washington Bureau Chief for Cable TV Business Magazine and other telecommunications and defense industry trade publications of Denver-based Cardiff Publishing Company. From there he moved on to lead public relations and corporate communications for the Cable Telecommunications Association (CATA), Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T Broadband, then the largest cable multiple system operator in the United States. Rob’s career was capped by a 20-year run with what was then the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) as Senior Vice President for Communications & Public Affairs. After the association changed its name to NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, Rob became Senior Vice President for Industry & Association Affairs, retiring in January 2022.

Rob is a member of the Cable Television Pioneers as well as the Virginia Cable Hall of Fame. He’s been recognized with major diversity awards from the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and the Washington, DC / Baltimore Chapter of The WICT Network. He also has been inducted into the PRNews Hall of Fame. He proudly represented NCTA as a member of the industry Customer Care Committee (now C5) for nearly 20 years, from its inception at NCTA through the stewardship of CTAM and finally its permanent home at The Cable Center. In recognition of his meritorious service to The Cable Center and C5, Rob was conferred as a C5 Emeritus in 2022.

Gibbs Jones

Gibbs Jones

C5 Emeritus
Owner (Spartanburg)

ARCpoint Labs

Gibbs is a customer experience executive with over 25 years of customer experience leadership and expertise in the design, optimization and implementation of customer contact operations. Gibbs has combined skill in the human and technology side of customer contact operations, including the procurement and installation of ACD equipment, workforce management and CRM systems. He has directed the start-up of multiple customer contact operations, with industry expertise in consumer electronics, communications, retail, manufacturing, financial services, banking, and direct sales.

Gibbs has over ten years experience in the Cable Industry. Most recently Gibbs was the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience for Suddenlink Communications. Gibbs worked with Suddenlink’s six regional senior vice presidents and the managers of its customer-contact call centers in Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and West Virginia to measure and improve Customer Satisfaction through transactional and relationship Net Promoter Programs and JD Power Research Studies.

Gibbs was also responsible for the company’s social media strategy where he made sure Suddenlink was active in the major social networking channels and found new ways to improve customer loyalty in this space.

Currently Gibbs owns two ARCpoint Labs locations. ARCpoint is a leader in the B to C and B to B drug and alcohol testing industry. Additionally, Gibbs has a consulting practice that helps companies improve their customer experience.

Gibbs is a Certified Net Promoter® Associate and has been a speaker at various conferences and is frequently called upon to discuss considerations related to measuring and improving the customer experience, exceptional contact center management, and optimizing the employee experience.

 

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