Chantilly, VA- The Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Foundation today announced the recipients of the 2007 Accolades, WICT’s most prestigious awards. The 2007 Accolades honorees were selected from among a strong pool of nominations. WICT has named Time Warner Cable Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs Lynn Yaeger as the 2007 Woman of the Year and Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Weather Channel Networks Wonya Lucas as 2007 Woman to Watch. WE tv is the winner of the Tribute Accolade in the Documentary/Biographical category for “Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany” and TNT/Warner Bros. Television is the winner of the Tribute Accolade for the Drama/Music/Variety/Comedy category with its production “The Closer.” The Forerunner Accolades, presented to the Best Programmer for Women in Cable and the Best Operator for Women in Cable as determined by the WICT Foundation PAR Initiative, will be announced during the week of November 12, 2007.
The 2007 Accolades will be presented at the 23rd Annual WICT Foundation Benefit Gala, which will be held on November 15, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, DC. The 2007 WICT Foundation Benefit Gala is presented by the WICT Leadership Circle: Comcast, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Time Warner Cable, MTV Networks/BET Networks and Charter Communications.
Woman of the Year- Lynn Yaeger, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Time Warner Cable Lynn Yaeger oversees the company’s government and public affairs policy for cable systems currently serving more than 14.4 million subscribers in 33 states. Her responsibilities include the development and direction of corporate policy and programs designed to ensure effective relations with all publics including government, media and community bodies.
Yaeger entered the cable communications industry as a franchise representative for the American Television and Communications Corporation (ATC) after running her own public affairs consulting firm. She joined Viacom in 1980 as manager of new market development and was named Director of Governmental Relations and Public Affairs in 1983 and Vice President in 1985. In 1988, Yaeger joined Warner Cable as Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and when the company consolidated with ATC in 1992 became Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Time Warner Cable. She was named Executive Vice President in 2003.
Active in the cable industry since 1979, Yaeger has been involved in numerous industry initiatives and organizations. She received the NCTA’s 1996 Vanguard Award for Public Affairs, the cable industry’s highest honor. She was a founding member and served three terms on the Board of Directors of the Cable Television Public Affairs Association (CTPAA, now ACC). In 1997, she received the CTPAA’s prestigious President’s Award and in 1999 the Friends of NAMIC Award. She was a National Board Member of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), an Advisory Board Member of WICT and served as a Board Member of the WICT Foundation. She is currently on the NCTA CablePAC Board of Directors, the NCTA Public Affairs Committee, the NCTA Convention Committee, and serves on the Advisory Boards of Cable in the Classroom and Cable Positive.
In addition to her involvement with the cable industry, Yaeger has a record of extensive public service experience. She began her early political involvement as a legislative researcher to U.S. Senator Walter F. Mondale and as a special assistant to the late Hubert H. Humphrey. She has served on various Arts, Culture and Civic non-profit boards and has been especially instrumental in the fund-raising efforts of many others. Currently Yaeger is a member of the Advisory Board for Veritas Therapeutic Community, Inc., a substance abuse treatment organization in New York City. She attended Mankato State University and University of Minnesota. She is married to Bob Davidson.
Woman to Watch- Wonya Lucas, Executive Vice President and General Manager, The Weather Channel Networks Wonya Y. Lucas is general manager and EVP of The Weather Channel Networks, a promotion that was announced in October of 2005. In addition to her previous responsibilities as EVP of strategic marketing and company strategy, she has assumed programming responsibilities for The Weather Channel®, Weatherscan, The Weather Channel Radio Network, and newspaper syndication.
Ms. Lucas joined The Weather Channel as EVP of Marketing in 2002 and had leadership responsibility for all marketing functions for The Weather Channel network and weather.com, along with various digital cable, radio, newspaper and interactive television initiatives. In January 2005, her responsibilities were expanded to include oversight of the TWC strategy and development department.
Ms. Lucas brought an extensive and impressive cable broadcasting background to the all-weather network and its associated businesses. Before coming to The Weather Channel, Ms. Lucas was with Turner Networks where she most recently had served as senior vice president of strategic marketing for domestic networks of the CNN News Group. In this position, she held the responsibility for all CNN domestic marketing, creative services supporting CNN/U.S., CNN Headline News, CNNfn, and CNN.com. Previously, Ms. Lucas was vice president of business operations and network development for the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. entertainment networks, TBS Superstation, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Turner South. She joined that company in 1994 as strategic marketing director for Turner Corporate Marketing and was later named vice president of marketing for TNT, responsible for the development of advertising campaigns, promotions, and trade marketing.
Her other experience includes brand management for The Coca-Cola Company, where she oversaw consumer and trade advertising, as well as new product development for the Minute Maid brand. Ms. Lucas worked in branding for The Clorox Company. She was a financial management intern at Pacific Telesis (now SBC Corp.). While at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, she served as a technical marketing/product engineer.
Recent honors for Ms. Lucas include: inclusion in the “50 Most Powerful Black Women Leaders in Business” list by Black Enterprise Magazine, recipient of a Brand Builders Award at the 2006 Promax & BDA Conference, recognition as a “Women To Watch” in the 2005 Wonder Women of Cable TV Awards, and selection by CableWorld for inclusion in lists of “Top 50 Influential Minorities in Cable” and “Top 50 Influential Women in Cable.” She is the programming chairman for Women in Cable and Telecommunications and a graduate of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute. She is an alumnus of the Leadership Atlanta Program, has served on the board for The Children’s Museum of Atlanta and as a member of the Georgia Center for Children. She currently is a member of the Board of Visitors for the Grady Health System and the International Women’s Forum.
Ms. Lucas earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Tribute Accolades
Tribute Accolade- Documentary/Biographical- WE tv for “Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany” China Beach alum, Dana Delany, hosts Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany, a WE tv documentary on the young women sent half way around the world to serve in the difficult conditions of Vietnam. From the battlefield operating rooms to the hospitals in Saigon, this special reveals the emotional story of women forever changed by the casualties of war. Trained in the science of healing the wounded, they quickly discovered their soothing words and hand-holding were often the best medicine. These women had to watch many young soldiers suffer and die as they stood by, helpless to stop it. A reality, that more than 30 years later, still haunts them. This one-hour documentary includes personal interviews with women who lost their innocence to war, but never lost their heart. Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany premiered in August `06 on WE tv.
Tribute Accolade- Drama/Music/Variety/Comedy- TNT for “The Closer” To see evidence that audiences are hungry for positive portrayals of women in strong positions, one need look no further than a show that is feeding that hunger with extraordinary results: TNT's THE CLOSER. Entering its third season, the series has racked up a remarkable list of achievements, from a ranking as ad-supported cable #1 series of all time to the Best Actress Golden Globe for the series' lead, Kyra Sedgwick. Few female characters on television have made as strong an impression on audiences and critics alike as the unique and fascinating character of Sedgwick's Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, a CIA-trained detective transferred from Atlanta to Los Angeles to head up the LAPD's Priority Homicide Unit. From her first day on the job, Johnson faced professional and personal resistance from her mostly male squad, as well as from her male colleagues and boss. But her amazing ability to close cases successfully, often using her strong interrogation skills, eventually won them over so that the team now works almost like a family.
Audiences have found in THE CLOSER not only a memorable crime drama but also an ideal portrait of women working in a field that has in the past been dominated by men. These are complex characters in a series that enlightens its audience to various issues of importance to women.
About the WICT Foundation
The WICT Foundation is responsible for the advocacy initiatives of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), the oldest and largest professional association serving women in the cable telecommunications industry. The WICT Foundation serves as a catalyst for industry change through research, development, advocacy and education. Its current effort, the PAR Initiative, measures and supports the advancement of industry women against the following standards: Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities and Resources for Work/Life Support. Groundbreaking programs such as the PAR Initiative, and other WICT Foundation research on issues such as work/life balance and the business case for gender diversity, have inspired industry-wide advancements for women.
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