In this lively discussion, top industry journalists reveal their thoughts about what is in store for 2021. From OTT growth and global expansion to overwhelming competition for consumer attention thanks to more content and platform choices than ever before, grab a notebook (or crystal ball) and see how your predictions stack up!
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Creative Services Director
WOOD TV (Nexstar)
Carly Munoz is the Creative Services Director at WOOD TV8 & ABC 4 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been a member of the ABC Affiliate Marketing Board and will be serving as Chair in her upcoming term. She has recently led her team through a re-brand for ABC 4, and loves to bring special projects to life through creativity & innovation. Carly is known for focusing on the details and making her station stand out through campaign-driven multi-platform promotional strategies. Outside of the office you can find her dreaming about the next family vacation, obsessing over her bulldog or binging everything on Bravo TV.
Creative Services Director
WTAE – Hearst Television
Tracy Acord Oliver has been with Hearst Television since 2007. She started at WTAE the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, as a one-man band topical producer, then worked as the assistant CSD, before being promoted to CSD in 2014. Prior to Hearst, she worked at stations across the country – including Wyoming. She is a fierce defender of brand, loves to collaborate with her fellow CSDs and uses her mean “mom” face when necessary. Her pet peeves include rude people and reporter updates that only include the words “I’ve got sound.”
Founder
Lee Hunt LLC
Lee Hunt is the founder of Lee Hunt LLC, a New York-based consultancy focusing on brand strategy, content architecture, and competitive analysis for entertainment brands.
Lee is a strategist and industry thought leader. His success in launching and positioning entertainment brands, in addition to his ground-breaking work in audience management, have set many of the standards for our industry.
Lee is also the publisher of CMOintelligence, the syndicated service that tracks and analyzes the on-air marketing of linear & streaming services.
Creative Services Director
E.W. Scripps
Gregg Schraufnagel is the Creative Services Director at TMJ4, Milwaukee. He has been with the NBC affiliate since 1998 and is a past NBC Station Marketing Council member. His Promax memories go all the way back to Tina Turner in Chicago! Schraufnagel is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. He is grateful for his creative team back in Milwaukee!
Director of Creative Services
KOMO/Sinclair Seattle
Jessica Rappaport is no stranger to PROMAX. She has worked in Creative Services for local affiliates in Lexington, Augusta, Oklahoma City, Norfolk and Sacramento. Jessica spent five years as a Senior Marketing Consultant for Frank Magid Associates and nine years as the Vice President of Marketing for Scripps. Jessica joined the KOMO Creative Services team 18 months ago and also oversees Seattle Refined, a 30-minute lifestyle show as well as its digital and social media platforms. Jessica and the Creative Services Team recently produced, wrote and edited a 30-minute documentary about the Pike Place Market, which is currently up for two Northwest Emmy Awards. She is happy to be here – welcome Jessica Rappaport.
Creative Services Director
WRTV | EW Scripps
Courtney is full of wonder and seeks connection in everything, particularly in memes. Some are so spot on, right? Discovering moments of belonging and togetherness inspire all aspects of Courtney’s life.
Courtney began her broadcast career at WCPO in Cincinnati, Ohio. From there she moved to Miami, Florida, taking a creative marketing position at the NBC O&O. With 8 years of producing experience, Courtney made the leap to management and accepted the creative services director position at WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana – her home state. Courtney jumped market size and moved to Indianapolis, where she is now an award-winning creative services director at WRTV.
When not collaborating with her team or laughing at memes, Courtney can be found bribing her kiddos and husband with sour straws in exchange for watching just one uninterrupted episode of Downton Abbey. Yes, she is that far behind on popular programming.
Creative Services Director
WFLA/Nexstar
Creative Services Director Paul Spingola has worked in television for more than 30 years. He began at WFLA, the NBC affiliate in Tampa, Florida in 2020. Prior to WFLA, Spingola worked at WTNH, the ABC affiliate in Hartford, CT as Director of Marketing and Digital Media. He also served as Interim General Manager during the station’s transition from Media General to Nexstar Broadcasting. Prior to joining WTNH, Spingola held positions as a promotion producer at CNN, CBS Television Distribution’s “Inside Edition” and KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas.
Spingola believes the key to success in television station marketing resides in the strength of the station’s brand. Delivering on your brand promise, meeting the customer’s expectations on their terms and delivering a best-in-class experience will set you apart from your competition.
Through the years, the members of Spingola’s departments and he have been recognized by the industry with 24 Promax Awards and 15 Emmys. He has participated in seminars at Promax multiple times on topics such as “How to Win the Late News War.” He has also served as President of the ABC affiliate marketing board, a member of the ABC digital committee and currently serves on the NBC Station Marketing Counsel.
Marketing and Creative Director
Stephen Arnold Music
Dave Baumann is currently Marketing and Creative Director for Stephen Arnold Music. He was previously head of marketing for WXYZ-TV, Detroit, MI; KSTP-TV, Mpls./St.Paul, MN; and KIRO-TV, Seattle, WA, and was Art Director for KTCA-TV, Mpls./St. Paul, MN. He has served on the affiliate boards for both CBS and ABC (chairman), and has won numerous local Emmy awards, as well as PROMAX and BDA awards. He lives in Traverse City, MI with his wife Pam and their dog Archie, and enjoys sailing, boating, biking, golf, skiing, snowshoeing, local theater, playing guitar and singing.
EVP & Chief Research Officer
Warner Bros. Discovery
A life-long and passionate fan of television, I currently serve as Executive Vice President, Chief Research Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, overseeing the company’s Global Research, Insights & Analytics organization – an Industry leading, innovative, fully integrated cross-disciplined research group consisting of more than one hundred researchers, analysts and data scientists. Our centralized research organization has a significant remit that includes: Warner Bros. Pictures Group, HBO and HBO Max, the Warner Bros. Television Group, DC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TCM, Cartoon Network Studios, WB Animation, TBS, TNT, truTV, Wizarding World and Consumer Products and Experiences, as well as their attendant titles, brands and franchises. I also oversee the FanLab, a state-of-the-art, in-house Consumer & emerging technology consumer testing center which I developed nearly a decade ago.
Vice President, Creative Services
FOX 32 Chicago
Vice President, Creative Services for Chicago’s FOX Affiliate
Founder & CEO
SYLVAIN
Alain is the Founder and CEO of SYLVAIN, a strategy and design consultancy that provokes progress for companies, people and society at large. Clients include Google, American Express, Spotify, Airbnb, BlackRock, Amazon, Diageo, GM, the NBA, UBER, New York Times, Nike, Apple and others. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in NYC, with offices in Amsterdam and Richmond, VA, and is a Certified B-Corporation.
Marketing Director
WCSC
Amanda Curry is the Marketing Director at WCSC-TV5, the CBS affiliate in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Curry also serves as Chair of the Gray Marketing and Creative Services Advisory Council. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
Creative Services Director
KMOV, Gray Television
Danielle is a fierce and energetic leader who’s guided creative teams in television and film across the country. Currently serving as Creative Services Director for KMOV in St. Louis, she’s also led non-profits including serving as president of Women in Film & Media KC. Most importantly, she’s a boss mom to the coolest nearly two-year-old you’ll ever meet.
Vice President of Promotion and Marketing, Creative
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Kent Welch began his TV career in Kansas City, MO as a studio camera operator. He worked his way into the busy Newsroom as a Morning News Editor. This evolved into the News Special Projects Editor and weekend Videographer position. In these roles he learned the nuances of long-form News reports and storytelling. Always interested in engaging viewers, when he got the chance he moved into the glitzy Promotions Department.
Sinclair Broadcast Group offered him their Promotion Manager position at their duopoly in Milwaukee, WI. Two years later, he took the Creative Services Director position in their (then) largest market, Tampa, FL. After a few years he added on the duties of Regional Promotion Supervisor. In 2014 he moved to a full time corporate position as Director of Marketing. In 2021 he became Vice President of Promotion and Marketing, Creative.
Kent’s favorite parts of the job are collaborating with the passionate Sinclair Promotion Managers, the talented Designers and the dynamic Corporate Marketing Team. On a daily basis he gets to focus on Sinclair’s diverse stations, assisting their growth channels and RSNs, and supporting their Apps and brands. Outside of work Kent spends his time with his family, working on his home, and producing content for his creative projects.
Marketing Director
Nexstar
Robyn Keeney grew up without a television, and she’s been in awe of it ever since. Seven years after kicking off her TV career as a line producer, she realized marketing staff got weekends and holidays off. She made the switch and didn’t look back. Keeney has a passion for marketing, a knack for leadership, and the most understated southern accent of any Ohio native.
EVP
SmithGeiger
Andrew Finlayson is the Executive Vice President of Digital and Social Media Strategies at SmithGeiger where he works with leading media companies on strategies for broadcast, digital, streaming, and content monetization. He joined SmithGeiger after being a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. He is the recipient of numerous local Emmy and Edward R Murrow regional awards, has reported from Asia, Mexico, Europe, Russia and across the US, and before Covid-19, regularly spoke at industry conferences regarding audience trends. He is also the author of the business book, “Questions That Work” (Harper Collins) that has been translated into five languages.
Vice President All Days
The AGENCY
After a brief stint with a movie production company, I moved on to work with The AGENCY and have been doing do over 20 years. We have assisted networks and syndicators, both large and small, with cooperative advertising programs. As an extension of their affiliate departments, we have handled everything from promo production to publicity and fulfillment. Currently, our clients include the networks, ABC, CBS, NBC & The CW. For syndication, we handle programs distributed by CBS Media Ventures, such as Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, etc. We also handle NBC Universal & Debmar Mercury. Those shows include everything from Family Feud, to Kelly Clarkson to name a few.
Sr Director Promotions – Digital
Sinclair Broadcast Group
As part of the Corporate Promotions Team at Sinclair, Ed specializes in Digital Advertising. He works with Promotion Managers to maximize their ad budgets with optimal placements that zero in on the station’s target viewers.
President and Co-Head
CBS News and Stations
Wendy McMahon is president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. She began her new role in May 2021.
McMahon and Neeraj Khemlani, also president and co-head of CBS News and Stations, are responsible for overseeing a newly-formed division that unifies CBS News, CBS News Digital and CBS Television Stations. Together, they have editorial and business oversight of CBS News broadcasts and operations; the CBS News Streaming Network 24/7 national and 13 local streaming channels; cbsnews.com; 28 CBS-owned stations and their digital extensions; CBS News Audio; and CBS News’ affiliate service Newspath.
McMahon is as an experienced, award-winning television stations executive with a record of success driving audience and revenue growth as well as creating industry-leading content, products and newsrooms. As an innovator of next-gen storytelling and champion of community-focused content, she is recognized for her extensive creative, marketing and digital expertise, as well as pioneering the uses of data and technology to deepen viewer engagement and drive operational modernization.
Prior to joining CBS News, McMahon was president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, with direct responsibility for the Walt Disney Company’s eight broadcast stations, local newsrooms and streaming assets, as well as oversight of the 1,500 team members who collectively achieved their 12th consecutive year of local television news leadership in 2020. Under her leadership, the group realized its largest local television news competitive advantage in a decade and achieved national leadership in digital reach and streaming minutes consumed across their markets.
Earlier, McMahon was the senior vice president, ABC Digital, where she crafted a multi-platform future for the group, responsible for leading digital content, products and technology, and audience development strategies and initiatives. As senior vice president of ABC Digital, she led the pivot to streaming and launched the group’s first connected TV apps. McMahon also launched the digital-first brand Localish and a first-of-its kind data journalism unit that powered exclusive investigations across the network and stations.
During McMahon’s tenure at the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, she oversaw the creation of a Race and Culture team as well as the multi-cultural series, “Our America.”
Previously, McMahon served as vice president of marketing at KABC in Los Angeles and as a creative services director at CBS-owned stations WBZ in Boston and WCCO in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She began her career as a promotion manager for WTOC in Savannah, Georgia.
In 2019, McMahon was named the Young Alumna of the Year by her alma mater, Louisiana State University and the Digital Leader of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Throughout her career, her teams have received numerous Emmys, Associated Press and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in news reporting, including the 2020 National Edward R. Murrow award for breaking news coverage. Her creative teams have also been honored with several Promax, Telly and Broadcast Design awards for excellence in marketing and brand development.
McMahon graduated Summa Cum Laude from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication – broadcast journalism. She is married to William Burton and they are proud parents of a 10-year-old son.
Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Vivid Zero
Emmy winning, creative executive Michael Vamosy, teamed up SmithGeiger to build an advertising and brand design agency that uses data insights to drive creative.
Vamosy, harnesses Vivid Zero’s creative and design firepower with the 20-year commitment to insights and strategy that SmithGeiger delivers throughout the media landscape. Together, they offer 360 creative services across entertainment, eSports, and consumer brands, with a deep focus on new frontiers, and innovative branding and campaign solutions. Vivid Zero’s clients including Showtime, CNN, ABC News, The ABC Owned and Operated Station Group, NBC Universal, Warner Bros, Peacock, PUBG and Headspace.
Vamosy formerly served as the CCO of Stun Creative, now Known, where he led creative strategy across the company, including its branding and advertising divisions for all networks, studios, streaming services, eSports and consumer clients, including the rebrand of Beyond Meat…before their historic IPO.
Vamosy brings a wealth of experience from the network side, previously as SVP Creative Services at Starz, where he reorganized a team of 115+ people and led creative marketing campaigns on the network’s original series “Outlander,” “Black Sails,” “Power” and “DaVinci’s Demons,” as well as affiliate marketing initiatives, OTT campaigns, and rebrands for Starz and Encore.
Prior to joining Starz, he was SVP of Design at FOX Broadcasting. Vamosy was the architect of FOX’s “Glee” campaign, “L for Loser”. He also redesigned the FOX network brand image “So FOX” and spearheaded campaigns for “Fringe,” “American Idol”, “House,” and many more.
Before that, Vamosy was VP of Design at FX Networks. He developed the network’s in-house design team “StudioFX,” which designed the brand looks and feel for original series “The Shield,” “Nip/Tuck” and “Rescue Me.”
Over the course of his career, Vamosy’s work has earned a recent Emmy Award, Emmy nominations, numerous CLIOs, PROMAX awards, including agency of the year (multiple years) and New York Festivals honors.
Director of Creative Services
KGUN-TV, E W Scripps
Experienced Media and Promotions professional with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Digital , Media, & Marketing Strategy. Over 25 years at local and national television brands including FOX, Warner Bros., ABC, CBS, and CW. Awards include Addy, Telly, and Promax.
Senior National Correspondent
CBS News
Ben Tracy is CBS News’ senior national and environmental correspondent based in Los Angeles. Tracy is a multi-faceted and award-winning journalist who has covered major stories overseas, in the nation’s capital and across the country. He reports for all CBS News platforms, including the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH NORAH O’DONNELL, CBS MORNINGS and CBS SUNDAY MORNING.
In his current role, Tracy has covered the escalating emergency of climate change and its environmental impacts. He has reported extensively on the historic drought ravaging the western U.S., the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy, as well as issues of environmental justice. Tracy has also traveled to Iceland to report on the impact of climate change on the country’s glaciers and attempts to capture and store planet-warming carbon emissions.
Previously, Tracy was CBS News’ White House correspondent and covered the second half of the Trump administration, following every fast-moving development coming out of the executive branch. Before moving to Washington, Tracy was based in Beijing where he covered all of Asia for CBS News. His first assignment for the network had him covering the Western U.S. with a home base in Los Angeles.
Since joining the Network in 2008, Tracy has reported from 18 countries on five continents. He has been to North Korea three times and was the only western broadcast television correspondent to report from that country’s main nuclear testing site.
Tracy has covered many national and international stories including both impeachments of President Donald Trump; the 2020 presidential campaign and election; the historic summit meetings between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi and Singapore; the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in Thailand; the 2018 Winter Olympics in Japan; and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. He also covered the massive wildfires in the Western U.S. and Canada; the 2014 hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia; the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan; and the royal wedding of Prince William and the former Kate Middleton in London. In 2016 Tracy traveled to Cuba to explore the increase in American tourism resulting from the lifting of travel restrictions.
Before joining CBS News, Tracy was a reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, where he was a member of the station’s investigative team, covering major stories, such as the methamphetamine epidemic and the collapse of the 35W bridge.
During that time, he also was a contributor to CBS News’ “Saturday Early Show,” to which he brought his signature “Good Question” segment, started at WCCO-TV, to a national audience.
Prior to joining WCCO-TV, Tracy worked as a reporter at WISN-TV Milwaukee and WBAY-TV Green Bay, Wisc.
He is the recipient of six Emmy Awards and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards honoring excellence in broadcast news.
Tracy was born in St. Paul, Minn. He graduated from Marquette University with bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He also earned a master’s degree in public service from Marquette University.
Content Strategist
SmithGeiger
Michelle works with local television stations across the country using data and insights to develop content strategy across multiple platforms. She spent 20 years working in local news as Managing Editor, Digital Content Director, Executive Producer, Director of Social Media and Assignment Editor. She specializes in driving new initiatives and leading great teams.
Creative Services Director
WCVB Channel 5, Hearst Television
Russ Nelligan is Creative Services Director at WCVB Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate and Hearst Television station. He is completing his term as Chair of the ABC Marketing Advisory Board and currently serves on the Board of Governors for NATAS, Boston/New England chapter. His marketing career has taken him from Burlington, VT (WPTZ, NBC) to Baltimore, MD (WBAL, NBC) to Boston. Russ began his career as a news photographer, putting him on the front-lines of news coverage during a crisis. Russ is a graduate of Binghamton University (NY).
Vice President All Days
The AGENCY
After a brief stint with a movie production company, I moved on to work with The AGENCY and have been doing do over 20 years. We have assisted networks and syndicators, both large and small, with cooperative advertising programs. As an extension of their affiliate departments, we have handled everything from promo production to publicity and fulfillment. Currently, our clients include the networks, ABC, CBS, NBC & The CW. For syndication, we handle programs distributed by CBS Media Ventures, such as Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, etc. We also handle NBC Universal & Debmar Mercury. Those shows include everything from Family Feud, to Kelly Clarkson to name a few.
Vice President, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The CW Network
Brian Wright has over 25 years of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition experience working for some of the largest media and entertainment brands in the world such as Universal Studios, House of Blues, Disney, The WB Television Network, and FOX Sports. Over his career, Brian has led high-volume recruiting teams, launched nine new broadcast and cable networks, and implemented a dynamic project-based training strategy in collaboration with Veterans in Media & Entertainment and AT&T/Warner Media. Currently, Brian is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The CW Network. He is tasked with building a DE&I infrastructure that supports The CW’s core business functions. This includes creating a practice of engagement, access, training, and real-life project opportunities to build larger, more diverse pools of skilled professionals.
VP, Marketing
WLS-TV / Disney
Dave Lee is long-time TV promotion and production professional. He kicked off his TV career in Great Falls, MT (market 170-ish at the time) and is currently overseeing marketing and local programming at ABC7 WLS-TV in Chicago. There have been plenty of memorable stops along the way (Georgia, Minneapolis, Spokane, WA, Fresno, CA and Houston). As a local TV station marketing lead, Dave stresses the need to lead with our people and content first messaging and the need to continue to elevate our contributions with each new project. He think it’s important to push creative people with new and unique challenges – and then give them the room and support to problem-solve their solutions. He also think it is imperative to create a work environment that is willing to take chances and push beyond the normal role boundaries. Over the course of many years, Dave have served on the ABC Affiliate Marketing Board in a couple of stints and serves as mentor across ABC/Disney. He is also a graduate of the NAB Broadcast Leadership Training program.
Managing Director
SRowe2000 Media and longtime host of “State of our Art”
Bio coming soon.
Senior Vice President, Marketing, Promotion and Community
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Dana Feldman is Senior Vice President of Marketing, Promotion and Community for Sinclair Broadcast Group.
In her role as Senior Vice President, Feldman supervises a team of Corporate Promotion Managers and oversees the daily on-air promotional efforts and priority roadmaps for Sinclair’s 185 owned/operated television stations in 86 markets.
Feldman leads marketing campaigns and initiatives for special corporate projects and is the liaison between Sinclair Corporate and its stations’ Creative Services Department as well as all major networks and television studios’ Affiliate Relations and Marketing Divisions. As Sinclair has expanded its footprint into sports, Feldman now works closely with Bally Sports 21 regional sports network brands.
Additionally, Feldman has championed and spearheaded, Sinclair Cares, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm for Sinclair. She has created and led important community partnerships with American Red Cross, International Red Cross, DAV (Disabled American Veterans), Salvation Army and Feeding America.
Feldman has been with Sinclair since 2000, most recently serving as Vice President of Promotion and Programming. Prior to joining Sinclair, she worked as Director of Domestic Distribution at Claster Television. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from The University of Maryland. Feldman resides in Baltimore, Maryland and Naples, Florida.
Creative Services Director
WPBF 25 – Hearst Television
Heath Myrick is the Creative Services Director at WPBF 25, Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, FL overseeing WPBF 25, Estrella TV, and True Crime Network brands. He joined Hearst Television in 2004 at WTAE in Pittsburgh, PA where he began as a CS Writer/Producer and later transitioned to Assistant Creative Services Director. Heath also served as the Promotions & Marketing Director at WBKO in Bowling Green, KY.
He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and co-founder of the school’s first Broadcast Meteorology storm team which is still in existence today. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Poynter Institute and Hearst’s Leadership Development Program by Harvard Business Publishing. Heath is a beach and dog lover, foodie, and is a certified television news geek starting a student-run newscast in middle school.
Director, Corporate Promotions, Marketing & Community
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Ardis joined the Corporate Promotions Team at Sinclair in February 2020. She supports promotion managers and creative services directors in the TV broadcast division and is a part of SBG’s Sinclair Cares team, creating and producing company-wide campaigns to help uplift various community and charitable initiatives and inspire audiences and employees to make a positive impact in their communities.
Prior to joining SBG, Ardis worked in promotions, programming, public relations and community services at various stations including WSFL, CBS in Miami and Los Angeles, WTVJ/WSCV and WPLG.
Ardis has led creative teams producing engaging campaigns that drive tune-in, help the community and entertain audiences – garnering a shelf-full of Promax, Emmy and Telly awards, all lined up alongside her son’s athletic and school trophies.
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