CTHRA Spotlight

2007 CTHRA Symposium … Another Great Success!

Juan Munoz (L), CTHRA’s president, and Larry Dunn (R) of Multichannel News congratulate Brian Koenig (Ctr) of Scientific Atlanta, the first recipient of CTHRA’s Excellence in HR Leadership Award

From the standout keynote speakers and interactive breakout sessions to the inaugural awards ceremony, the 2007 Achieving HR Excellence Symposium upheld CTHRA's legacy of meaningful, knowledge-building content.  The one day educational program focused on maximizing workforce trends with sessions on human capital metrics, legal issues, workplace flexibility, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition and generational issues.  You can find handouts from several of the sessions in  CTHRA's online Resource Center                            

Attracted by the strong session topics and expert speakers, a record-breaking 160 160 HR professionals representing nearly 40 different companies within the cable and satellite industry participated in the symposium.  This diversity of talent afforded participants a great chance to share expertise and make new contacts.  As Tom Mathews, SVP of Time Warner remarked about the day, "This was the best CTHRA event I have attended and the turn out was spectacular.  The event provided the opportunity to network with some of the industry's most influential and most senior HR leaders."
                 
A well deserved thanks goes to CTHRA's Conference Committee: Erin Hand (Chair), Lisa Chang, Timothy Goodly, Ph.D., Ray Gutierrez, Daryl Smith, and Donna Gapen, as well as other volunteers who made the day a success. Additionally, thank you to all of the following Symposium Sponsors: WALLACE The Training Cost Recovery Company, Scientific Atlanta, Multichannel News, Bright House Networks, C-SPAN, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Scripps Networks, Showtime, Starz Entertainment Group, Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting System, The Weather Channel Companies, and CableWORLD.

Smile and say cheese: Click here to view the Symposium photo gallery. 

CTHRA Releases 2007 Compensation Survey Results:

The Cable Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) released 2007 highlights from the Annual CTHRA Compensation Surveys. The research resulted in industry-specific benchmarks and a trend report based on data collected from 63 companies. While the number of participating companies was equal to last year, the breadth of the data collected increased to encompass 125,950 executive, professional, administrative, sales and hourly incumbents (ie. personnel) across a multitude of disciplines compared to 93,100 incumbents last year.

"As the war for talent intensifies, companies can leverage CTHRA's benchmarks to assess practices and policies that impact their ability to recruit and retain employees," shared Lynne Ramsey, senior vice president of human resources for Charter Communications, CTHRA board member, and co-chair of CTHRA's compensation research initiative.
Read the full article.

Strategy Showcase  

CTHRA Members Unveil SkiTAM's Create a Career in Cable 

The 13th annual SkiTAM featuring the U.S. Disabled Ski Team will be held April 3-6, 2008 in Vail, Colorado.  This unique industry event provides an abundance of benefits for supporting companies and athletes, including a new initiative titled Create A Career In Cable (CCC) designed to provide athletes with career opportunities in our industry after they have hung up their skis. CTHRA members Erin Hand, VP of Talent and Development for Cox Communications, and Scott Warren, Co-founder and Senior Partner of Warren & Morris, LTD., share how companies can benefit from participating in SkiTAM 2008 and the Create a Career in Cable program.

Who attends and what takes place during SkiTAM?

Scott Warren: The entire U.S. Disabled Ski Team as well as coaches and staff not only attend, but actively participate in all of SkiTAM's weekend events. Their participation is especially noticeable during the Pre-Race Clinic, the Youth Race and most importantly, the big SkiTAM Race, where USDST members provide invaluable skiing tips to their competing race teams. In addition, each 4-person race team is assigned a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team as the fifth crucial teammate. Throughout the event, attendees have an opportunity to meet and interact with these incredible athletes. Together, laughs are shared, stories are told and lasting friendships are created. The emotional bond formed between the athletes and SkiTAM's participants is one of the main reasons this event continues to grow and flourish year after year.

Anybody and everybody are welcome to attend the event or to make a donation to support the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, a truly worthy cause.  Entire families (spouses, children) and friends attend. For sponsorship, donation or attendance information, visit www.skitam.com.

Why is your company involved in SkiTAM?

Scott: The benefits of sponsorship can be seen in the faces of the athletes, the camaraderie and unity of the team, and the preeminent performance of the disabled skiers. For example, at the 2002 Paralympics, the U.S. Disabled Ski Team took home 40 medals overall to remain #1 in the world!

Erin: The athletes on the US Disabled Ski Team have demonstrated success through their undeniably high level of perseverance in a physically and mentally challenging environment.  Through overcoming demanding obstacles and challenges, these athletes are competing globally…and winning.  The crossover of these traits from the ski team to our companies is, in many ways, ideal. We are all looking for qualified talent and the athletes have demonstrated a high level of commitment and dedication: important qualities all companies need in this competitive environment.   It's a win/win for all parties. 

Get More Info – Click here for the Full Q&A

Member Connection

MEMBERS ON THE MOVE
CTHRA congratulates the following members on recent promotions:

Suzanne Rosenthal, Director of Human Resources, MTV Networks

MEMBER NEWS

CTHRA Board of Directors Rosalind Clay Carter, AETN; Lisa Chang, The Weather Channel Companies; and Ray Gutierrez, Showtime Networks, were listed in Cable World's 2007 Most Influential Minorities in Cable – "Defenders of Diversity" feature. Also included in the tribute to minority executives leading cable's HR departments are CTHRA members Marsha Conaway, Time Warner Cable; Mae Douglas, Cox Communications; Gene Hawkins, Hallmark Channel; Charisse Lillie, Comcast; and Loretta Walker, TBS.  Parthavi Das of WICT was honored in the Organizations and Others category.

ESPN was honored as Diversity Champion by the Walter Kaitz Foundation at the annual fundraising dinner on Sept 19th.

NEW MEMBERS
We welcome these individuals who joined CTHRA in August - October 2007

Adria Alpert-Romm, SEVP of Human Resources, Discovery Communications
Karen Bennett, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Turner Broadcasting
Jane Cornue, Human Resources Manager, Charter Communications
Rebecca Decker, HR Coordinator II, Charter Communications
Ann Freeh, Director – HR Shared Services, Comcast
Summer Gafford, Director Variable Compensation, Charter Communications
Jennifer Ganyard, LMS Administrator, The Weather Channel
Michael Gater, Director of HR, Comcast - Advanced Solutions Center
Kim Glazebrook, Senior Director HRMS and Payroll, Charter Communications
Danise Hetland, Assistant General Manager, Rancho Murieta Association
Cynthia Hockless, Human Resources Manager, Charter Communications
Glenda Kebel, VP of Talent and Development, Charter Communications
Carrie Lannelli, Compensation Consultant, QVC, Inc.
Alison Larkan, HR Specialist, MdPC
Mary Lesh, Compensation Manager, XM Satellite Radio, Inc. 
Jessica Mansfield, Director, Human Resources, ICTV, Inc.
Amanda Miller, Senior HRMS Business Analyst, Cox Communications
Misti Molitoriss, Compensation Manager, EchoStar Communications Corp.
Heidi Mukamal, Compensation Manager, Disney ABC Media Networks
Joseph Murphy, Senior Technical Trainer, Cox Communications
Sara Olender, Comcast
Susan Perkins, Senior Compensation Analyst, SureWest Communications
Susan Lord Peters, Director of Benefits & Compensation, Live Nation
Dorothy Pinkelman, VP of HR, National Cable Television Cooperative, Inc.
Jill Schultz, Executive Assistant to the SVP of HR, Charter Communications
William Sheils, Compensation Analyst, AOL, LLC
Janiece St. Cyr, Vice President, Human Resources, Cable One, Inc.
Leigh Shelton, HR Generalist II, Charter Communications
Crystal Sloan, Administrative Assistant, The Weather Channel
Shirley Smith, Charter Communications
Sherry Stoppel, Corporate Staffing Specialist, Prince Telecommunications, Inc.
Phyllis Swift, Benefit Program Manager, Scientific Atlanta, Inc.
Molly Talanczuk, Senior HRMS Business Analyst, Cox Communications
Brad Vanacore, Vice President of Human Resources, Knology Broadband, Inc
Paige Wilder, Director of Human Resources, Charter Communications