Comcast, BET and Charter Executives Garner Next Generation Leader Awards

Comcast, BET and Charter Executives Garner Next Generation Leader Awards

Awards Presented at NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast April 11th at NCTA National Show

Entrepreneur Farrah Gray and FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate Featured Speakers

NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Allen, area vice president, City of Chicago, Comcast Cable, Kelli Lawson, EVP, corporate marketing, Black Entertainment Television (BET), and Pragash Pillai, vice president, Advanced Engineering-Digital Video, Charter Communications, Inc. are recipients of the inaugural Next Generation Leader Awards to be presented by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), at the 2006 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast. Held in conjunction with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) National Show, the event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 11 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Presented in three categories: MSO, Programmer and Technology, the Next Generation Leader Awards recognize the industry's up-and-coming business leaders who reflect and embrace NAMIC's mission to educate, advocate and empower for multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Honored for demonstrating exceptional practices of diversity and inclusion, Allen (MSO), Lawson (Programmer) and Pillai (Technology) were selected from a distinguished group of nominees. "Through our educational initiatives, NAMIC has taken the lead in ensuring that our industry has a strong pipeline of diverse executives. We are pleased to recognize these rising leaders for their personal accomplishments as well as their commitment to achieving a multi-ethnic workforce by promoting diversity in all aspects of their business," said Kathy Johnson, executive vice president, NAMIC, Inc.

An auxiliary group of executives also chosen for demonstrating leadership and managerial practices that exemplify NAMIC's mission will be recognized at the event in addition to the winners in the 3 categories. Selected as the Next Generation Leader Award "Luminaries" are:

-- Lisa Chang, senior vice president, Human Resources, The Weather
Channel

-- Tanya Van Court-Cayo, vice president and general manager, ESPN
Broadband and Interactive Television

-- Phiderika D. Foust, vice president, Business Development, Scripps
Networks

-- Richard Jennings, vice president and general manager, Comcast
Colorado-North Denver Metro

-- Walter Oden, vice president, Distribution & Business Development

-- Luis Silberwasser, senior vice president and general manager, U.S.
Hispanic Networks

-- Tony Speller, vice-president, Connecticut-Western MA Region, Comcast

-- Sherice Torres, vice president, Hard Goods, Nickelodeon & Consumer
Products, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products

-- Antoinette Alfonso Zel, senior executive vice president and general
manager, Telemundo Networks Strategy

FCC Commissioner, The Honorable Deborah Taylor Tate and noted entrepreneur and author Farrah Gray are the featured speakers for the 2006 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast. A former director of the Tennessee Regulatory appointed by the Chairman of the FCC to the Federal-State Joint Board on Advanced Telecommunications Services Authority, Tate was appointed to the FCC in December of 2005. Induction as a Fellow by the National Bar Association, election to the International Women of Tennessee and being named to Tennessee Business magazine's "Tennessee's Most Powerful People" of 2004 are among Tate's expansive list of accomplishments.

Scheduled to give the keynote address, Gray is an internationally known business leader. At just 21 years of age, the author of Reallionaire addresses more than a half million people annually on leadership, personal development, diversity, strategic planning, business development, creativity and financial management. Raised on Chicago's south side, Gray began his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12. Gray's extensive list of civic and professional honors include The National Urban League Whitney M. Young Jr. Entrepreneurship Award, The Alabama A&M Student In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Award and The American Red Cross Award of Appreciation.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Chairman and CEO, Philip I. Kent is the 2006 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast Honorary Chair. Turner Broadcasting System is among NAMIC's prestigious group of corporate sponsors which also includes, Comcast, MTV Networks, Disney & ESPN Media Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services, Time Warner Cable, Showtime Networks, Inc., Advance Newhouse Communications & Bright House Networks, A&E Television, BET, Cox Communications, Discovery Communications, Fox Cable Group, HBO, Scripps Networks, Starz Entertainment Group and The Weather Channel and Turner.

About NAMIC

NAMIC is the premier organization focusing on ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC is comprised of nearly 2,000 professionals belonging to a network of chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve.

For more information on the 2006 Annual Awards Breakfast log onto http://www.namic.com/ or call the NAMIC national headquarters at (212) 594-5985.

Source: NAMIC

CONTACT: Charmaine Chapman of BTB Communications, office:
+1-310-242-8407, cell: +1-310-902-8617, char@btbcommunications.com, for NAMIC

Web site: http://www.namic.com/

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