Powered by TMCnet
 
| More

Cable Technology Feature Article

March 19, 2010

Comcast Sales Execs' Roles Expand

By Deepika Mala, TMCnet Contributor


Two senior executives, namely Bill Haase and Kevin Smith, are to take on expanded roles with Comcast (News - Alert) Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable where Haase will hold the position of vice president, finance and administration and Smith will work as group vice president, spotlight integrated media sales.

“Bill and Kevin have worked tirelessly to ensure that Comcast Spotlight leads the industry through innovation and delivers strong financial results,” said Hank Oster, senior vice president and general manager of Comcast Spotlight. “Their commitment to seizing opportunities and meeting challenges has been a key to our success and I’m thrilled that they will be taking on these expanded roles on our team.”

The responsibilities of Hasse will comprise the administration of human resource practices for Comcast Spotlight’s 3,400 employees as well as managing financial operations and reporting. He will report to Charlie Thurston, President of Comcast Spotlight.

In February 2002, Haase joined Comcast Spotlight and served various roles for the company’s finance organization. Earlier, he worked at Ernst & Young LLP and also served as the Financial Reporting Manager at CDNOW.com. He was a certified public accountant and was a graduate from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA.

Working as vice president, digital media, for Comcast Spotlight, Smith is responsible for strategically positioning the company’s digital media, advanced advertising and on-demand publishing products and cultivating relationships with top agencies and national advertisers.

His expanded role will include oversight of the company’s online platform and sales efforts spearheaded by Tom Straszewski, Vice President of Interactive Sales. The advertisers through the integration of Spotlight’s digital media teams are provided with a seamless multi-platform, multi-product execution.

In 2007, Smith joined Comcast Spotlight as Vice President, Advertising Sales Development, where he proved his worth by leading the company’s initiative to maximize opportunities in short- and long-form direct-response advertising. The creation of a centralized remnant inventory management system designed to capture unrealized revenue across all of Spotlight’s advertising products was also overseen by him.

Earlier, Smith worked as the President of TelAmerica CableConnect and also served as Senior Vice President of Cable & PPM (News - Alert) Business Development at Arbitron.

One the first major market interconnects in the United States, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Media General, Inc, Mega Advertising, was created by Smith. He graduated from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

In related news, the expansion of the availability of the content in of one of the most popular features of 'Sunday newspapers' has made Comcast Spotlight‘s Video Circulars On Demand the most popular content on the company’s Searchlight service.


Deepika Mala is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Marisa Torrieri