Naperville, Ill., May 10, 2010—Today the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) announced its 2010 Excellence in Human Resources (HR) award recipients: Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s HR Technology Team and Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president of HR, Tom Mathews.

HR Operational Efficiencies Award
This award recognizes a superior planning and execution of a single or series of HR strategies resulting in increased revenue efficiencies, enhanced cost containment, and revenue generating customer satisfaction. Award recipients are those with the diligence, perseverance, and dedication required to develop and execute a successful business plan and enhance operational viability within the industry. CTHRA’s 2010 award honoree, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s HR Technology Team exhibited these traits during the implementation of its Global Employee Portal.

In 2006, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s HR Technology Team set a goal: to leverage HR systems globally. Three years later, the group’s intensive strategic effort culminated with the deployment of the company’s Employee Portal globally. In 2007, the team, led by Matt Lehmann, senior manager of HR technology, launched the portal for all U.S.-based employees. Dubbed snap (defined as “an effortless task or easy job”), the portal served as the home of all of Turner’s HR content, the gateway for access to employee-facing systems via single sign-on, and the repository for employee self-service (ESS) and manager self-service (MSS) transactions including payroll, HR, benefits, and expense functions.

In a separate, but closely related project, the team then consolidated the company’s U.S. employee database with its London-based international counterpart to form a single, worldwide PeopleSoft HRMS database. True to its global promise, the HR Technology team then launched snap region by region, first in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, then Asia Pacific, and finally Latin America, where the portal became Turner’s first all-employee multi-language web site.

Matt Lehmann, senior manager of HR technology, cited the business impact, “By defining and implementing common, streamlined global processes powered by snap we’ve completely changed the game from paper-based shuffling that differed by geography to seamless, contextual online experiences for our employee and managers globally. As we continue to build out snap’s potential, we will continue to enhance the employee and manager experience and provide our HR partners with greater ability to serve as strategic advisors to their businesses.”

CTHRA’s Leadership Excellence Award
This CTHRA award annually recognizes an HR executive who has demonstrated extraordinary and visionary leadership in addressing a critical business issue, challenge or opportunity by enhancing an organization’s efficiency, performance, cost management, or profitability.

In 2009, Time Warner Cable (TWC) spun off from its parent company, Time Warner Inc. From an HR perspective, the massive undertaking was akin to creating an $18-billion startup, as much of its HR infrastructure had to be built from the ground up. The fact that the spin-off flowed seamlessly for the company’s 47,000 employees is a testament to the leadership of Tom Mathews, EVP of HR.

It wasn’t the first time in his eight years at TWC that Mathews’ exemplary leadership and passion for excellence paved the way for a monumental transition. Three years earlier, when the company acquired several former Adelphia cable systems, Mathews and the HR team created a revolutionary, automated onboarding system that allowed for the smooth, simultaneous entry of more than 11,000 new employees into the company and its culture.
 
Anthony Surratt, vice president of corporate communications at TWC attributes Mathews’ success to a special combination of skills and strategy, “Tom is an accomplished HR generalist with hands-on experience in virtually every HR function. He has been deliberate in bringing together expertise from inside and outside the company to create a great balance of perspectives and new ways of approaching common HR challenges.”

But there’s more to being a strong and motivational leader than extensive experience and good ideas. As one of his team members said, “Tom is the epitome of a role model. It doesn’t matter who you are or how high up you are, he takes a sincere interest in you, your development, and your success. I try to emulate his style in my own life professionally and personally.”

Not surprisingly, Mathews’ sphere of accomplishment extends far beyond TWC. He created an HR Summit with several of his peers at other cable companies and orchestrates an annual offsite meeting for sharing best practices. He is an active board member of CTHRA and is heavily involved with Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) and the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). He is also a role model for community involvement, serving on the advisory board of the Business School of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and on the board of directors for First Book, a nonprofit organization that provides new books to children from low-income families.

Awards Luncheon
During CTHRA’s Annual HR Symposium on June 8 in Atlanta, CTHRA and Multichannel News, the awards sponsor, will present Tom Mathews and Matt Lehmann/Turner Broadcasting’s HR Technology Team with their awards. In addition, the award winners will be spotlighted in the June 7 issue of Multichannel News and the May-June issue of CTHRA’s Resource Connection.

Media Contact: Melissa A. Hicks, Mosaic Marketing, 484.888.6766

Members of the media can request a complimentary press pass to CTHRA’s Symposium and Awards Luncheon.

About CTHRA
The Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) is the premier human capital resource for the industry and a growing nonprofit organization with more than 1,500 members spanning 100 companies. CTHRA provides industry-specific benchmarks, information and resources, as well as networking and educational opportunities. Its groundbreaking initiatives include annual compensation and human capital metrics surveys and CTHRA’s Annual Symposium. For more information, visit www.cthra.com.