Spring 2008 Mentor Profiles

Brad Allgood
Sherly Anderson
Richard Buchanan
Katie Daniels
Andrea Gavalas-Pierantozzi
Pam Stinson
Michael Turner

Brad Allgood
Vice President
CSG Systems

Brad Allgood is the Vice President, EchoStar Strategic Business Unit.  Brad has been with CSG Systems for 15 years.  He began his career at CSG in customer service and has held a variety of roles within the organization, from product development, application design and analysis, data center operations, and product engineering.  Prior to his current role, Brad was Vice President of Platform Operations and Product Engineering for 2 years transitioning to his current role in the fall of 2007.   Although he is a resident of Omaha Nebraska he travels to Denver on business 3 – 4 days a week.

Brad is interested in becoming a mentor because he has had some stellar mentors in the past and realize what a good mentor can do for an individual.  He has also seen many challenges that women face especially in a technology role.  Having grown up with only brothers, the birth of his daughter, Sophia, who is now 4, has led him to take a more active interest in understanding the challenges and opportunities women face in our industry.

Brad is an experienced mentor, he is currently work with four individuals within CSG, with whom he has regularly scheduled meetings ( from once a month to once a week) to discuss career planning, job satisfaction, managerial approaches, and personal growth.

Brad believes a good mentor has two ears and one mouth and uses them proportionately.  Allowing the individual to articulate what may or may not be clear to them; understand their motivators, drivers, strengths and weakness.  Help them analyze these things and offer the mentors past experiences for context.  Mentors need to be part sounding board, part confidant, and someone to lean on.   Brad has had the blessing of having some excellent mentor’s guide him through his career, Brad sees the value in mentoring and would like to reciprocate.

Brad’s leadership philosophy is a general approach, when dealing with people there are situations that present 4 core scenarios, each scenario (not person) needs a specific approach.  When a person has the following skill/will mix for a scenario take the following approaches.

• Strong will – Strong Skill =  Empower and enable
• Strong will – Weak Skill = Coach, provide quick feedback and adjust course often
• Weak will – Strong Skill = Light the internal fire, tap the value
• Weak will – Weak Skill = Help the person find the right fit.

Brads core values are integrity before all else, respect for people, open communication, results based performance assessments.  His strengths include work ethic, candor, and sense of humor.

Brad is interested in mentoring someone who has high potential and who is interested in the following topics. Growing as a Leader; Acting as a Sounding Board and Transitioning from Being an Individual Contributor to a Manager. His meeting location preference is for the DTC Area, Tuesdays – Thursdays and is flexible on time of day.

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Sheryl Anderson is the Sr. Vice President of Human Resources and Administration at Starz Entertainment Group.  In this role, she is responsible for the human resources functions for approximately 550 Starz Entertainment employees.

Sheryl joined Starz Entertainment in 1992 shortly after it was founded and built the administration department from the ground up. Prior to joining Starz Entertainment, she has served in various positions in tax and compliance at Tele-Communications Inc., United Cable and United Artists Communications. She has been a director of the Cable Television Human Resources Association for eight years. Sheryl has also served as Honorary Chair of Cable Positive.

Sheryl is a native Coloradoan, currently residing in Castle Rock, CO with her husband, Dan and their daughter Stephanie and son Daniel.

Sheryl is interested in being a mentor because she believes it has been important to her own career development.  She wants to offer the same positive experience to a mentee in this program that her mentor gave to her.

Sheryl has experience as a WICT mentor in our Fall 2004/2005 Mentoring program.  She also has been a mentor to employees at Starz over the years at all different levels in their careers.

To be a good mentor Sheryl believes that first you need to be a good leader.  She believes that a mentor must have identified those good leadership traits for themselves, and then be able to articulate them to others.  Sheryl believes she will be a good mentor because she has the ability to coach and share learning experiences with a mentee that they may find valuable as they grow in their own career.

Sheryl’s personal leadership philosophy is to lead by giving a team autonomy; knowing when to give direction and when to advise.  She believes a team must be held accountable, and be guided to learn from their successes and also from their mistakes.  Her personal values are Honesty and Fairness.

Her strengths include the ability to analyze a situation and determine next steps effectively, including: using positioning, a style and an approach that will, in the end, be successful for the situation, whether implementing a new initiative or managing through a conflict.

Sheryl is interested in mentoring someone who has been in the industry for awhile and has high potential.  She is most interested in mentoring on the topics of Growing as a Leader; Interpersonal Effectiveness; and Transitioning from Being an Individual Contributor to a Manager.  Her meeting location preferences are in the DTC area and during work hours; before work would also be an option, but she would have limited availability after 5:30 PM.

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Richard Buchanan is Vice President of Operations for the Comcast media Center (CMC), a Business unit of Comcast Cable. In this role, Buchanan oversees the CMC’s services for traditional and new media, including its linear and live event television origination business and emerging services, such as VOD, eTV, iTV, and store and forward operations. The CMC’s advertising services, including its Ad Distribution Network (ADN), and the CMC’s Operations Management Center (OMC), which provides quality assurance monitoring for the company’s content distribution platforms, also report to Buchanan.

Prior to joining the CMC’s executive management team, Buchanan, a 30 –year veteran in video production, management and distribution for the entertainment and enterprise markets, had most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for Ascent Media Management Services (AMMS). Before joining AMMS in 2005, he spent nine years as Senior Vice President of Operations and Business Development for Crown Media International, which owns and operates the Hallmark Channel. Prior to joining Crown Media in 1996, Buchanan served as the Vice President of Production and Creative Services at Encore Media, where he helped to launch Starz! and seven thematic multiplex channels. Over the last 14 years, he has launched a total of 49 channels worldwide. Buchanan’s industry positions prior to joining Encore include holding COO, general manager and production posts with HSN Telemation, from 1988 to1993, and serving as producer/director for Media Works of Virginia, from 1984 to 1988. He entered the industry in 1976, as operations manager for Star Television, a MMDS service that provided subscription television services in four US markets. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University, where he studied mass communication with a specialization in broadcasting, and Colorado State University’s process management program.

Richard is interested in being a mentor because he believes that the best way to improve the industry is to invest time and effort in teaching the emerging talent and helping grow their skills in a positive way.  He would like to contribute to that and feels that this program is an excellent opportunity to further these goals.

Over the years Richard has had three good mentors over the course of his career, and for Richard it was a very rewarding experience. It helped him to develop his skills faster than any other training available. He feels that the opportunity to get targeted, practical advice, and to be able to apply it in real situation and see results is invaluable.

To be a good mentor, Richard believes in good listening skills, a mentor that can advise (not lecture), and a mentor that will carefully observe results for the purpose of feedback. He feels that he will be a good mentor by leveraging his skills in these three areas.

Richard’s personal leadership philosophy is to give talented people the support and direction to succeed and then let to them do it. He believes that help should be provided but only when asked for or needed.  His believes that successful leaders do not micromanage or interfere beyond what is required for people to succeed on their own. His personal values are based on integrity, equity and improvement.

Richard’s strengths include his broad base of experience in the industry - covering technical, creative and programming areas.  His broad perspective can provide a foundation that can be valuable in many applications when coaching mentees in the cable and telecom industry.

Richard would be interested in mentoring someone who is new to the industry or any functional area, someone in a related industry, and/or high potential individuals with management aspirations..

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Katie Daniels
Executive Director, Programming
International Networks & AZN Television

As the Executive Director of Programming for AZN Television, Katie Daniels develops the overall Programming strategy and directs the daily operations through management of scheduling, acquisitions, original productions and programming content delivery functions.  She is also responsible for developing relationships and negotiating with program suppliers and producers to secure and produce content with favorable rights to support organizational goals and expense objectives. 

Katie has been with International Networks since 1999, before which she held several key positions at Your Choice TV including director of content management and director of programming services.  Prior to that, Katie worked at Discovery Communications.  She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland with a degree in psychology.

Katie is interested in becoming a mentor as it’s not about legacies but rather sharing professional and personal experiences that others may learn from or find interesting.  Equally important is continuing to understand herself and to hold herself accountable. 

Katie has had interesting experiences as a mentee.  She learned what commitment and loyalty was all about and investing in people.  She also discovered what was overly dependent.  She also found it interesting when a supervisor said she was a mentor of mine when Katie didn’t feel the same.  Each experience taught her new perspectives and the necessity of seeing it from both sides. 

Katie believe that a good mentor is someone who is a good listener, an experienced leader and focused.  She would like to say that she has mastered those qualities, but recognizes that she may not have!  Katie thinks mentorship is a two-way street where we can each learn from each other, become better listeners and continue to focus and hold each other accountable.

Katie’s leadership philosophy is allowing for autonomy and calculated risks.  She inherently trust others and work hard to provide opportunities to grow and learn.  Katie’s core values are family, happiness, integrity, fun, health and her strengths are gratitude, love, inherent trust, humor and high standards.

Katie is interested in mentoring someone with a focus in one or more of these areas; Interpersonal Effectiveness; Growing as a Leader (Leadership Development); Balancing Work and Life; Managing and Motivating Teams.  Katie is available to meet with her mentors during the week early morning or around lunch time in the DTC area.

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Andrea was previously the VP of Local Voice Product Management for Level 3 Communications, Inc.  In this position, she managed the organization that is responsible for delivering Level3’s wholesale Local Voice products to the marketplace.  In this position her focus was to continuously improve the positioning, underlying costs and capabilities of this core Level 3 product.

Andrea began her career in Telecommunications in the United States Air Force where she was in the White House Communications Agency, responsible for providing telecommunications service for the President of the United States and his staff.  Andrea has been in the Telecommunications industry for over 20 years.

Andrea thrives in a fast-paced environment and is good at managing multiple projects/tasks and people simultaneously.  She practices the philosophy that people can achieve amazing things when they possess a “make it happen” attitude.

Andrea wants to actively assist other women in achieving their career goals by becoming a mentor. She enjoys assisting people with achieving their goals and feels that she gets as much from the experience as she gives.  For this specific program, she would like to work with folks that are in different companies than Level 3 so she can learn about other cultures and dynamics.

Andrea is an experienced mentor and was introduced to “formal” mentoring about 6 years ago when Level 3 launched a Women’s mentoring program.  Andrea worked with 3 mentees and maintained mentor/mentee relationships with 2 of those individuals.  She have also been sought out by other individuals (~ 7 men and women) within her company as well as the Human Resources group to assist high performing employees with career development. 

Andrea believes that a strong mentor is someone with experience who has been through successes and challenges both personally and professionally and wants to help others advance.  She has broad experience within the Telecommunications industry that is transferrable to other industries as well. She enjoys assisting people with understanding what they want next out of their careers and working through the steps to get there.

Andrea’s core values are honesty, integrity and courage.  Her strengths are being a good listener, people and team management and development. Her professional passion is experiencing broad corporate exposure, from sales through back-office support functions, engineering and operations.  These strengths give her the ability to understand different dynamics in a corporate environment.

Andrea wants to mentor someone who is currently at a senior manager / director level and not working within Level 3.  She is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of Growing as a Leader; Resolving Conflict/Conflict Management and Managing and Motivating Teams.

Andrea would prefer to meet in the North Metro or Downtown Denver area.  Between April – June she can be very flexible on times, Post June: she will be returning to the workforce so would assume that early morning/after work meet times will be more appropriate.

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As the Director of Marketing, Pam is responsible for all marketing aspects associated with the television network as a whole. The Mountain West Sports Network. was launched in Sept 2006 and is the first collegiate sports network devoted to a single college conference. Since starting with the company  in June Pam has been responsible for creating a network branding campaign, (including a number of different elements and tactics), working and recruiting college interns, creating a new network website (www.themtn.tv) and working with our VP/GM on messaging for consumers to help with the company’s  distribution efforts. As a creative contributor to the production team Pam also helps with live show implementation.

Prior to her position at Mountain West Sports Network, Pam was a Senior Account Executive at Disney and ESPN Media Networks.  At DEMN, she was an account executive in the affiliate sales and marketing group working within a territory and representing the company’s networks and products with cable affiliates local advertising sales groups. Pam was responsible for facilitating both marketing and event plans with affiliates as well as sales discussions for insertion and distribution. Pam was also active within the DEMN group by working on and representing her organization on one of the network products.

Prior to that position Pam was an Account Executive at Lundwall Communications,  a graphic design and advertising firm. In this position Pam  worked with cable clients across the country helping them develop marketing and advertising materials.

Pam is interested in becoming a mentor because as a professional woman and single mom it is important to her to give back. She is a big believer in ‘pay it forward’. She has always loved working with people from being a Girl Scout leader to working with students now- she just enjoys people and loves to help out.

Pam was previously a participant in the WICT program the first year that it was held.  It was a very pivotal time in her life and having a mentor to bounce ideas off was very important to her. Since then she has had a number of “unofficial” mentors in her life, both men and women. Pam feels that it is critical to have those professional ties that can also be meaningful for all aspects of one’s life. She has definitely relied on advice from her mentors throughout her career!  She also mentor a number of students each semester. Pam feels that this it is truly fulfilling to work with and teach students before they leave the academic world.  She would like to take all of these experiences and leverage them in the WICT program as a mentor.

Pam feels that should would be a great mentor because she is a great listener.  She truly focuses on hearing everything that is shared with her and she has the ability to sort through and make sense of things that might seem difficult to others. As a mentor she thinks that listening, as well as making time to give attention to one’s mentees is very important.

Pam’s leadership philosophy is empowerment. It is important to teach employees great steps and tactics to get to where they need/want to go. She believes that it is critical to give employees a chance, that’s what learning is all about.  Her core values include the importance of being able to recognize the differences in people and to embrace those differences.  She also believes in trust, reliability, and making smart choices.  Her strengths include creative thinking, listening, organization and process.  She also feels that she is capable of effectively problem solving on the job.

Pam does not have any specific desires for the type of person she will be matched with to mentor.   She would enjoy working with someone who is really open to new ideas and sharing . She feels that she is has a more nurturing personality and would want someone who is comfortable with that quality.

Pam is most interested in mentoring someone interested in the following topics:  Interpersonal Effectiveness, Branding and Marketing, Balancing Work and Life, Managing and Motivating Teams.

Pam indicates that locations south, around near Park Meadows or DTC would be preferable for meeting. She can meet mornings fine 8-10 or over lunch hour on WWF.

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Michael Turner
Vice President, Communications and Content
Hitachi Consulting

Michael Turner was previously a Vice President with Hitachi Consulting, the global business and IT consulting company of Hitachi Ltd.  He was a leader in Hitachi Consulting’s Communications, Media and Entertainment industry practice.  Michael has eighteen years of sales and delivery experience in the consulting industry in the areas of information technology, revenue assurance and business process improvement.  Prior to joining Hitachi Consulting in 2002, Turner was a partner at Arthur Andersen, LLP, where he served clients in the media and communications industry.  Prior to joining Arthur Andersen LLP, Turner was a Principal with IBM Global Services.

Michael holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from Texas State University, and a Certificate in Telecommunications Management from the University of Dallas Graduate School.

His interest in mentoring is centered on assisting other individuals in advancing their careers – particularly those with a desire to lead organizations and/or teams.  He has been a mentor for dozens of individuals during his career – both on a formal and an informal level.  Additionally, as a mentee, he has benefited tremendously from the coaching of his mentors.

Michael believes that integrity and a broad knowledge of what it takes to succeed in business are key factors in providing a successful mentoring experience.  Additionally, being a good mentor requires understanding the mentee’s strengths and helping them leverage those strengths.  He has extensive experience in dealing with companies and individuals, and knows how to leverage individual strengths.

For Michael, leadership means working well with others, developing and building out concepts.  His philosophy is centered in empowering others to lead.

Michael’s core values are centered on honesty and integrity.  He also believes that it is important throughout one’s career to put family first.  Michael’s strengths include building effective teams, and creating and maintaining key relationships.

Michael does not have a preference for which types of mentees he would like to work with, and would enjoy working with any mentee committing to participate in the program.  He is most interested in mentoring on the topics of Managing and Motivating Teams, Growing as a Leader (Leadership Development), and Balancing Work and Life.  His preferred meeting times are over breakfasts and lunches.  DTC is best, but downtown also frequently works with his schedule.

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