Congratulate our 2022 Award Winners
2022 Recipients
At CTAM Think on Nov. 3, 2022, industry colleagues honored this year’s winners. Join us in congratulating all the 2022 recipients for their impactful industry contributions by posting a comment below.
Annie Howell
Hallmark Media
Tom Adams
Charter Communications
Rob McFarland
Cox Communications
Ben Toombs
Warner Bros. Discovery
The CTAM Beacon Award spotlights distinguished communications leaders who epitomize success in their discipline, demonstrate innovation and creativity, and inspire excellence in others.
Annie Howell
Hallmark Media
Annie Howell
Chief Communications Officer
Hallmark Media
Driving communication results and collaborative efforts to foster industry-wide success
Industry Contribution
Annie personifies what the Beacon Award stands for through her proven ability to drive results impacting the industry. She leads with confidence, intellectual curiosity, empathy and a keen sense of humor. Annie’s dedication reaches far beyond her organization, she enthusiastically offers her time and communications prowess to collaborative efforts fostering industry-wide success.
A seasoned communications executive with over 30 years of experience, Annie Howell currently oversees Hallmark Media’s communication functions, including corporate communications, media relations, publicity, and government relations, as well as talent relations and events.
Congratulatory Videos
Catherine Frymark
EVP, Corporate Communications
Mattel
Fun Fact:
What is your favorite mobile app and why?
My Vivino app — picks “the right wine at the right time”
The CTAM TAMI Award honors individuals for their exceptional contributions to initiatives critical to driving the continued success of the industry.
Educational Foundation
Guiding the growth and development of the industry leaders of tomorrow
Tom Adams
Charter Communications
Tom Adams
Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer & Former EVP, Field Operations
Charter Communications
Industry Contribution
Tom’s commitment, leadership, and financial stewardship on the CTAM Educational Foundation Audit Committee and Foundation Board of Directors is unparalleled. For the past eight years, he has served on the board with unwavering dedication and guidance in his leadership role that has contributed significantly to the growth and success of CTAM and the Educational Foundation.
Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in the cable industry, Tom Adams oversees the full range of Charter’s field operations serving more than 32 million customers across 41 states and most recently, led Charter’s successful bid for more than $1 billion in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards and the beginning of a multiyear buildout that will ultimately connect approximately 1 million unserved homes and small businesses.
“Tom’s expertise in operations and his commitment to excellent customer service has been a key part of Charter’s growth story. His leadership was instrumental to Charter during its repositioning in the marketplace and its successful completion of the largest systems integration the industry has seen. In addition, Tom has made a lasting impact on the industry organizations he supported and in those current and future leaders who learned from his example. This award is a testament to not only to his contributions to CTAM, but to the larger Industry as well.”
“Congratulations Tom. Beyond the significant role you played in Charter’s success over the years, the impact of your work with organizations like CTAM and your commitment to the broader Cable industry are truly worthy of recognition. Thank you for your many contributions.”
Congratulatory Videos
Julian Brodsky
Co-Founder and Senior Advisor
Comcast
Zell Murphy
SVP, Finance and Administration
CTAM
Fun Fact:
Who is one person that you admire most in the industry, and why?
I’ll narrow it down to two: Tom Rutledge and John Bickham. They both have hands-on experience in all facets of our business, and leveraged that experience to develop a sound, detailed operating model that is well-communicated to a highly motivated leadership team they were personally involved in recruiting.
Business Services
Driving collaboration to accelerate cable’s success in the Business Services market
Rob McFarland
Cox Communications
Rob McFarland
AVP, Segment Marketing
Cox Communications
Industry Contribution
Rob McFarland exemplifies exceptional leadership in many important industry projects, always first to volunteer as a featured speaker on CTAM webinars that educate the industry on successful marketing trends and strategies. Rob is the constant driving force behind the CTAM MSO SMB Working Group, his unyielding push to drive collaboration among MSOs and adding new and creative ideas to help accelerate cable’s success in the Business Services market.
As AVP, SMB Marketing for Cox Business, Rob’s responsibilities include acquisition, customer lifecycle marketing and retention for the SMB segment with a proven track record of delivering strong revenue growth, record setting marketing ROI and industry leading retention.
Congratulatory Videos
Mollie Andrews
SVP, Cox Business Marketing & Sales Operations
Cox Communications
Heather Hall
Director, Cox Business Marketing
Cox Communications
Kathryn Carter
Director, Cox Business Marketing
Cox Communications
Fun Fact:
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Astronaut
Piracy and Password Sharing Mitigation
Managing fraud to educate consumers about the risks of accessing illegal content
Ben Toombs
Warner Bros. Discovery
Ben Toombs
Senior Program ManagerWarner Bros. Discovery
Industry Contribution
As an active contributor to the important piracy and password sharing work, Ben Toomb’s experience with managing fraud reveals important areas to educate consumers about the risks of accessing content from illegitimate sources while broadening the industry’s’ knowledge about emerging methods being deployed by bad actors. And, his knowledge and humor make his work at Warner Bros. Discovery much more colorful and interesting, as he enjoys long walks on the beach, photography, protecting his customers and assets from ne’er-do-wells, and chicken keeping.
“I consider Ben to be the most prominent advocate in Warner Brothers Discovery’s fight against fraud and piracy. We began working closely together around the 2020 launch of HBO Max and he was my greatest partner across a number of impactful platform initiatives, from securing content to thwarting bots to countering phishing and other impersonation scams. Ben really understands his subject matter in a way I believe few of his peers have taken the time to do. Ben breaks down walls to work with whoever is capable in solving tough problems, regardless of their job title or department. And he does so creatively, with a big heart, and often a floral shirt.”
Randy Gingeleski , Senior Staff Security Engineer, Warner Bros. Discovery Congratulatory Videos
Rakhi Seth-Forrest
VP, Fraud and Payment Ops
Warner Bros. Discovery
Mark Nakano
VP Content Security
Warner Bros. Discovery
Fun Fact:
What food can you not live without?
Pho, it’s a big part of my childhood and one of my favorite dishes year-round.
Photos from the 2022 Awards Ceremony
Click or tap any photo to enlarge and open a slide show
Past TAMI Award Honorees
Past Beacon Award Winners
Rob Stoddard is an extraordinary communications executive, a mentor and trusted ally to many in our business; his insights and guidance helped cultivate opportunities during challenging times and foster collaboration within our industry to ultimately achieve greater success.
Rob oversees the NCTA’s member relations efforts and industry-wide public affairs programs, and he helps manage NCTA’s relationships with other cable industry associations and societies. Before joining NCTA, he served as chief communications officer for a variety of major cable companies, including AT&T Broadband, MediaOne, and Continental Cablevision.
Leigh Woisard SVP, Public Affairs, Cox Communications received the 2020 CTAM Beacon Award for communications excellence. The award spotlights communications executives for extraordinary accomplishments, innovative thinking and inspiring excellence in others. This year’s Beacon showcases a leader who distinguished themselves by successfully navigating communications efforts during COVID-19.
“At a time when the community was struggling to adapt to life at home, Leigh quickly established new, innovative ways for Cox to effectively communicate through the crisis,” said Vicki Lins, president & CEO, CTAM. “It’s a pleasure and honor to acknowledge her extraordinary communications efforts during a time of uncertainty.”
CTAM is pleased to announce that the recipient for the 2019 CTAM Beacon Award for Communications Excellence is Quentin Schaffer, former Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications at HBO with an extraordinary 39-year tenure at the company. The award, established by the CTAM Communications Steering Council, spotlights communications executives for extraordinary accomplishments, while exemplifying the pillars of communications and public relations excellence. The Council selected Schaffer as a bow to his impressive career, stellar expertise, professionalism and reciprocal relationship with the press that paved the way for HBO’s tremendous success.
“Quentin played a vital role establishing cable’s reputation for excellence in original programming,” said Vicki Lins, CEO, CTAM “It’s an honor to acknowledge his remarkable accomplishments in the field of communications.”
Schaffer joined HBO as a senior publicist in 1980 and rose to executive leadership where he pioneered the first premiere of a TV show in a theater with Sex and the City in 1999. As one of the originators of HBO’s Emmy campaigns, he led publicity for landmark series Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Wire and many more. Most recently, he helped facilitate the launch of HBO Now with Apple.
CTAM is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2018 CTAM Beacon Award for Communications Excellence is Chris LaPlaca, senior vice president, corporate communications, ESPN. The award, established by the CTAM Communications Steering Council, spotlights communications executives for extraordinary accomplishments, while exemplifying the pillars of communications and public relations excellence. The Council selected LaPlaca as a bow to his impressive career, spanning 38 years.
“Chris LaPlaca is just as good as it gets for our function, our industry and – most importantly – as a person, all of which make him the perfect choice for the first CTAM Beacon Award,” said Jim Maiella, SVP and co-head of corporate communications for AMC Networks. “His leadership of a dynamic team of highly achieving communicators at ESPN, across a broad array of activities and business opportunities over many years, has been remarkable. Yet, he still finds the time to be a trusted friend and ally for so many of us focused on driving results at our own companies through our shared function and expertise. We couldn’t be more pleased to present him with this well-deserved recognition.”
Congratulations to all our 2022 CTAM Award recipients and for your incredible contributions to the industry. We can’t thank you enough for all your hard work.
Congratulations Rob! Thanks for making us #CoxProud
Congratulations Rob. Thank you for being an amazing mentor to me and pushing me to be the best version of myself. Well done!
Congrats to all, especially Annie Howell, my mentor. She’s such an inspiration, visionary, and always knocks it out of the park in everything she touches! Her contributions to our industry are incredible, and I’m so lucky I get to learn from her!