FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


September 8, 2022

CONTACT:

Erin Powers

epowers@wict.org

202-827-4783

The WICT Network Announces Honorees for 2022 Women of the Year and Women to Watch 

Woman of the Year – Operator 

Colleen Langner, EVP & COO, Cox Communications  

Woman of the Year – Programmer  

Wonya Lucas, President & CEO, Hallmark Media 

Woman to Watch – Operator  

Shannon Atkinson, Regional VP, Field Operations – West Division, Charter Communications 

Woman to Watch – Programmer  

Lisa Williams-Fauntroy, SVP, Business & Legal Affairs, Warner Bros. Discovery 

Woman to Watch – Technology 

Urvi Shah, VP, Global Key Account Marketing, CommScope 


Washington, DC – The WICT Network today announced it will honor Colleen Langner, Executive Vice President & Chief Operations Officer at Cox Communications, with its “Woman of the Year – Operator” award and Wonya Lucas, President & CEO of Hallmark Media, with its “Woman of the Year – Programmer” award. Women of the Year is The WICT Network’s highest individual accolade, bestowed on individuals who embody its mission to develop women leaders who transform the industry. Honorees have achieved top industry status and show great resolve to help others along their path. 


The WICT Network also announced the esteemed 2022 Women to Watch honorees from an operator, programmer and technology organization, respectively: Shannon Atkinson, Regional Vice President, Field Operations  West Division, Charter Communications; Lisa Williams-Fauntroy, Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Warner Bros. Discovery; and Urvi Shah, Vice President, Global Key Account Marketing, CommScope. The WICT Network’s Women to Watch accolade recognizes leaders who show tremendous achievement and progression in their professional goals with a strong commitment to their company and the industry at large.  


Honorees will be presented their awards during the Touchstones Luncheon held Monday, October 10 at the New York Marriott Marquis as part of The WICT Network Leadership Conference. AMC Networks is champion sponsor of the 2022 Touchstones Luncheon. 


“The WICT Network looks forward to celebrating the many accomplishments of our esteemed Women of the Year and Women to Watch honorees at our 2022 Touchstones Luncheon this October,” said Maria E. Brennan, CAE, The WICT Network's President & CEO. “These strong, dynamic, and inspirational women are paving the way for the next generations of media and technology leaders. Our industry is stronger for having them in their influential roles, and we are honored to give them recognition.”


The Touchstones Luncheon historically boasts a sold-out crowd of more than 1,100 professionals, and seats will sell out quickly. A limited number of table sponsorships are available. Companies interested in reaching leaders throughout the industry may complete this form to reserve a branded table and join the growing list of sponsors for this special event. Please contact Cindy Key with any additional questions. 


About Colleen Langner 

Colleen Langner is Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. In this role, Langner oversees regional field services, customer care operations, outside plant maintenance, public affairs, and experience transformation. Before moving to this role, Langner served as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer for Cox Communications, succeeding Cox’s President Mark Greatrex, where she was responsible for leading the company’s residential sales team and marketing activities. Prior to being promoted to the company’s senior leadership team, Langner served as Senior Vice President of Field Operations for Cox Communications. She had overall responsibility for field operations across the enterprise, which includes field services, outside plant maintenance as well as field operations strategy and vendor management. Prior to this position, Langner lead marketing operations for the company where she drove the residential marketing strategy and execution nationwide. View her full bio.  


About Wonya Lucas 

Wonya Lucas is President & CEO of Hallmark Media. Lucas oversees the company’s portfolio of entertainment brands, including linear networks Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama; subscription video on demand service Hallmark Movies Now; and publishing division Hallmark Publishing. Prior to joining Hallmark Media in August of 2020, Lucas was president and chief executive officer of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, where she oversaw Atlanta’s NPR (WABE) and PBS (ATL PBA) stations. Previously, she was president and chief executive officer of TV One, where she became the second African American woman to hold the president and chief executive officer role at a cable television network. Prior to joining TV One, Lucas held several positions at Discovery Communications, including executive vice president and chief operating officer for Discovery Channel and Science Channel, and global chief marketing officer, which entailed oversight of marketing in 210 countries and over 130 networks. View her full bio.  


About Shannon Atkinson 

Shannon Atkinson is currently the Regional Vice President, Field Operations – West Region, for Charter Communications. The West Region is the company’s largest, serving more than 8 million homes across Arizona, California and Hawaii. During her 20+ years in management at Time Warner Cable/Charter Communications, Shannon has gained experience in all aspects of residential services. From 2018 to July 2022, Shannon served as Regional Vice President, Field Operations – Carolinas Region, where she and her team earned the title of most improved region for the past two years for their improvements in workmanship and plant performance. From 2016 to 2018, Shannon led the Midwest Central Management Area in the Southern Ohio Region, heading a team of more than 1,000 employees serving nearly 1 million customers. In this role, Shannon bolstered several key performance metrics by instituting operational task forces and increasing employee and leadership accountability. View her full bio.  


About Lisa Williams-Fauntroy 

Lisa is Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Since joining WBD (formally Discovery Inc.) in 1997, Lisa has handled legal and business affairs matters for almost every cable network in the company’s portfolio including TLC, Food Network, Discovery Channel, HGTV and OWN. Over the years she has also contributed her operational, legal, and business skills to many content and corporate deals for the company’s networks, joint ventures, and new businesses. As a senior business and legal affairs executive, Lisa manages a bi-coastal team and serves as a collaborative and strategic partner to the development, production, programming, and operations teams at the television networks. Her substantive practice area includes complex deal negotiations and transactional work for network productions and talent deals and she advises internal clients on content liability matters related to defamation, publicity, privacy, and copyright issues. View her full bio.  


About Urvi Shah 

Urvi Shah currently serves as the Vice President, Global Key Account Marketing at CommScope, a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communication networks. In this role, she leads a team of Account Based Marketing professionals to design marketing programs that build long-term value for our customers and drive profitable growth for CommScope. Urvi also serves as the Co-Chair of CommScope’s Diversity and Inclusion Business Network and has a passion for creating a culture that fosters a dynamic and inclusive workplace that embraces our diverse people and experiences. View her full bio.  

About The WICT Network
The WICT Network is a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to create women leaders that transform our industry. We do this by providing unparalleled professional development programs, commissioning original gender research, and supporting a B2B network that helps advance women. For more than 40 years, The WICT Network has partnered with media, entertainment and technology companies to help build a more robust pipeline of women leaders. Founded in 1979, and now over 10,000 members strong, The WICT Network is the largest and oldest professional association serving women in media. Charter Communications and Comcast NBCUniversal are The WICT Network’s Strategic Touchstone Partners. Please visit www.wict.org or follow @WICTHQ on Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn/Twitter for more information. 

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