Executive

Professional Development

Executive

Thrive Executive Mentor Program

The Thrive Executive Mentorship Program is a unique opportunity for executives to receive exclusive training while guiding the next generation of industry leaders.

Using an integrated approach of training, mentorship, coaching, and industry engagement, Thrive participants develop and apply managerial tools, strategies and acumen necessary to lead within their organizations and the media marketing industry at large. The Thrive Executive Mentorship program matches Thrive participants with executive mentors ready to help guide them to develop the strategies necessary to accelerate their career and personal growth.

As senior leaders in the industry, seldom are you personally provided with opportunities to expand your own learning as well as give back. The Thrive Executive Mentorship Program not only provides you with the opportunity to mentor, mentors are given exclusive training and development opportunities to expand your own leadership as well as access to a Master Executive Coach if you need a brainstorming partner or additional thought leadership and resources.

Benefits of Being a Thrive Executive Mentor:

Gain personal satisfaction from sharing your own knowledge and insights
Enhance coaching, feedback, leadership and networking skills
Experience new and different creative styles, approaches and thought processes
Receive mentorship, leadership, and executive training
Expand your reputation as a leader beyond your organization
Self-reflect on career experience and future career growth

Program begins: November 2018
Program concludes: June 2019 at the Thrive Graduation at the Promax conference

The program kicks off with an exclusive one-hour executive training session in October, followed by a mid-program training session, and concluding with a Thrive and Mentor workshop at June conference.
Mentors and mentees are recommended to meet at least every other week. Between sessions, mentors and mentees correspond via email and phone calls to maintain and strengthen communication channels.

For more information about becoming a Thrive Executive Mentor, please contact paul.lee@promax.org

Wendy McMahon

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.

Ben Tracy

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.