Leadership

James Rooke is President of Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In this role, James oversees the operation of the company, including the Media Solutions team, which provides a streamlined way for advertisers to build brand relevancy and sustainable business outcomes through multiscreen TV advertising campaigns – powered by the media, data, and technology assets of Comcast; FreeWheel, Comcast Advertising’s media and technology arm that provides the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers; and Universal Ads, which enables brands of any size to seamlessly create, buy, and measure ads across premium video directly from top publishers with no fees, unlocking new opportunities as a complementary strategy to social advertising.

Most recently, James was General Manager of Effectv – which is now part of Media Solutions and operating under the Comcast Advertising brand – where he led a nationwide team across sales, product, engineering, data, and operations focused on enabling marketers to reach their target audiences across TV and premium video streaming platforms. In that role, he successfully led Effectv’s transformation to a multi-screen, audience delivery company including bringing the more widespread use of data to TV advertising strategies, as well as driving addressable advertising and programmatic capabilities.

Prior to leading Effectv, James oversaw FreeWheel’s global publisher business unit responsible for providing TV programmers and distributors with advertising technology to manage the monetization of their video content. During his eight-year tenure at FreeWheel, he also helped design, launch, and scale FreeWheel’s first video marketplace; led the Advisory Services practice, a consulting business unit; and served as the company’s Chief Revenue Officer.

Earlier in his career, James worked in the media business at Time Warner Cable (now Charter Communications) as Vice President, Strategy & Execution. He was also a principal in the media and entertainment practice at Capgemini, a consulting and technology company. He began his career as an associate consultant at Ernst & Young (now EY) in London.

James speaks at many major industry conferences including Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Future of TV Advertising Global, and New York Advertising Week, and is often featured in leading media, including Ad Age, Adweek, AdExchanger, Business Insider, CNN, and more. Additionally, James is focused on moving the industry forward, sitting on the boards of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) and Ampersand, and acting as a board advisor to TVision.

James earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Birmingham in the UK. He resides with his wife and two daughters in New York.

Karen Babcock is Vice President, Strategy, Partnerships & Supply for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players.

In her current role, Karen plays a pivotal part in defining the unique value proposition of Comcast Advertising, ensuring it remains competitive and indispensable to clients and the greater marketplace across strategy, partnerships, and supply. She leads several multifaceted teams that seamlessly integrate daily operations with strategic future planning.

Under her leadership, the Yield Team connects directly with media sales and operations, managing sales opportunities, pricing, inventory, and analytics. The Affiliate Partnerships Team maximizes long-standing relationships with local MVPDs to diversify offerings and expand coverage beyond Comcast’s footprint. The Supply Strategy & Activation Team identifies industry opportunities and enhances our market presence. The Comcast Advertising Partnerships Team ensures visibility into partner conversations to drive the right narrative and economics. Lastly, the Comcast Advertising Strategy Team integrates all efforts to guide future actions and strategies for Comcast Advertising, ensuring proactive planning and seamless integration.

Together, Karen’s organization drives innovation and growth, creating a cohesive and forward-thinking environment. Her leadership extends to shaping a multi-year vision, advancing live linear capabilities, and spearheading innovation in attribution and privacy mitigation to ensure future revenue growth.

Previously, Karen was responsible for creating and connecting the vision of Comcast Advertising sales agents, customers, and clients to the premium, curated inventory that Comcast has to offer to the advertising marketplace – regardless of the platform. She partnered with Effectv – which is now part of Media Solutions and operating under the Comcast Advertising brand – and FreeWheel teams to drive the activation of Comcast’s trusted premium video inventory across the ecosystem in an objective and productive way.

Additionally, Karen has led a team of yield and pricing professionals who served both FreeWheel and Effectv’s sales and operations teams with inventory and pricing analytics to drive business results for Comcast and its clients. She has also managed a strategic planning team that creates informed, data-driven media plans for top clients and verticals, supporting more than 50% of the revenue generated by Effectv.

Karen’s journey within Comcast started in 2011 when she joined Comcast as Manager, Revenue Operations for the former Comcast Interactive Media, managing digital yield on Comcast’s flagship website, comcast.net. In 2012, she shifted into Effectv and eventually took on an expanded role of evaluating pricing and inventory across all media that Effectv had to offer. Karen then rose to her next role over the next eight years, defining what the future of yield management should look like for a media organization that was going through growth and tremendous change in the industry.

Throughout her tenure at Comcast, Karen has been passionate about creating teams that are people focused. For instance, she developed a program for individual contributors to grow their skillsets beyond day-to-day interactions, entitled “The Road to the Influential Business Advisor,” to ensure that at all levels of the organization, yield was an integral part of the business dialogue. She also leads with an “industry first” mentality to rise the tide for all ships as the company responds to the ever-changing landscape of both viewers and advertisers.

Prior to Comcast, Karen held multiple financial roles within Johnson & Johnson and graduated from the company’s competitive Financial Leadership Development Program. Karen also participated in Women in Cable Telecommunications’ (WICT) Rising Leader Program and Betsy Magness Leadership Cohort, the Half the Sky Leadership Institute, as well as Comcast’s Women in Leadership program. She is the current executive advisor for InLeadership program, the evolution of Women in Leadership. She is the founder of The Dax Pact, a nonprofit foundation created in memory of her son, with a mission to fund scholarships, daycares, and camps – bringing hope and happiness to countless families to remind them of the joy in every day life, across the U.S.

Karen is a recognized thought leader in the advertising industry. She speaks at premier industry events, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Stream TV Summit and she participates in media interviews such as Marketecture’s Advertising Forum podcast and Beet.TV.

Karen graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in finance. She resides in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her family.

Elana Caplan is Vice President, Strategic Initiatives of Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In this role, she operates as Chief of Staff to the President of Advertising and is critical to Comcast Advertising’s day-to-day business, leading the execution of key strategic initiatives across the broader Comcast NBCUniversal portfolio.

Elana brings a wealth of media strategy and operational experience to her current position. During her eight years at Comcast, Elana worked in the Xfinity Video business unit and then with Comcast Advertising on the Strategy and Operations team where she worked across addressable enablement, data, and privacy.

A Comcast boomerang, Elana worked at Warner Music in between, where she was Chief of Staff to the head of Warner Music Group’s Merchandise Division for several years – spearheading strategic planning and the launch of Warner’s over-the-top (OTT) channels. Earlier in her career, Elana held multiple roles across the consulting and finance sectors, serving as a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), an Associate at Arsenal Capital Partners, and an Analyst at Rothschild.

Elana received a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania as well as a Master of Business Administration in finance and strategic management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She resides in the New York City Metropolitan Area.

James Grant is the General Manager for Universal Ads, which enables brands of any size to seamlessly create, buy, and measure ads across premium video directly from top publishers with no fees, unlocking new opportunities as a complementary strategy to social advertising.

James was instrumental in bringing Universal Ads to life from strategy and development to launch, and his vision and leadership continue to be a driving force in its evolution. As General Manager, he leads a team spanning Product Management, Engineering, Revenue Partnerships, Sales Enablement, and Operations, to directly connect advertisers to premium video content from top media companies, including A+E, AMC Networks, DIRECTV, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Roku, TelevisaUnivision, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Xumo.

Prior to Universal Ads, James was the Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Comcast Corporation. In this role, he worked closely with corporate leaders and the teams at Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky to drive the company’s growth strategy and develop new business opportunities, including Peacock and Xumo.

Before joining Comcast, James was a partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). While at BCG, he advised clients in the telecommunications, media, and technology industries, including major television network groups, digital media companies, and mobile/broadband providers. He began his professional career at Creative Arts Agency (CAA) in the Business Development group.

James is an influential voice in the industry, having shared his insights through media interviews with Marketing Dive, The Measure, and Stream TV. He also speaks at industry panels, such as POSSIBLE Miami, further solidifying his role as a thought leader.

James received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Georgetown University Baker Scholars Program. James lives with his wife and two children in Bronxville, NY.

Tracey Kopper-Hourin is Senior Vice President, People Experience for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In this role, she leads the People Strategy, focused on creating opportunities for all to thrive and grow a meaningful career while contributing to the company’s success across the US, UK, EU, and APAC.  

Since joining Comcast in 2006, Tracey has held a number of human resources leadership roles throughout the company, including with the national engineering and technology organization and cable divisions’ Freedom Region – serving customers across Greater Philadelphia, New Jersey and northern Delaware. She also led employee engagement at headquarters before moving into the Comcast Advertising business in 2017.

With more than 25 years of human resources experience, Tracey’s career has focused on strategic development and implementation, leadership, talent acquisition and retention, culture, and engagement. She has led multiple integrations of acquisitions (both domestic and global), and prior to Comcast, Tracey held human resources leadership roles at ADP, Eastern Research, and Bell Atlantic Business Systems.

Tracey earned a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in business administration, both from Temple University. She is a proud mother of four and resides with her family in New Jersey.

Mark McKee is General Manager of FreeWheel, Comcast Advertising’s media and technology arm that provides the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers.

In this role, Mark leads strategy and direction for the global organization, which provides technology solutions connecting buyers and sellers and new industry initiatives and offerings that are at the forefront of shaping the future of TV advertising. Under his leadership, FreeWheel is spearheading the quest to make the TV industry more data-fueled, automated, and beneficial to both the buy and sell sides.

Previously, Mark served as the company’s North American Chief Revenue Officer. During his tenure, Mark drove revenue growth by overseeing FreeWheel’s efforts to provide innovative solutions to agency and advertiser clients using premium video and TV. He was promoted to this position from his prior role as the company’s Senior Vice President, Marketing.

Mark came to FreeWheel from Videology, where he was Senior Vice President, North America, spearheading commercial responsibility across marketing, strategy, and sales efforts in that region. He also served as Vice President, Sales strategy and development for Videology. Prior to this, Mark was Vice President, Sales Strategy for Joost, an internet TV service at the time. In his role, Mark was responsible for the positioning, development, and launch of the company’s advertiser offering, as well as the operational deployment of advertising innovations. 

Mark’s interest in media start-ups began as a Sales Strategy Manager for Massive Incorporated, the leader in dynamic in-video game advertising, which was acquired by Microsoft. Before that, he worked with MTV Networks’ New Business Development and Sales teams in New York, developing sales strategies and cross-platform communications programs for new and existing advertisers. Mark also held positions at McCann Erickson New York and Fountainhead Creative, both in a business development capacity.  

Mark has more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, primarily in media startups, advertising, and technology. Mark has been quoted in publications such as Ad Age, Adweek, AdExchanger, Beet.TV, Digiday, and more, and he has joined the stages of top industry conferences – including Advertising Week New York, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and CES. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and theater from Union College and resides with his family in the New York area. 

Gina Mingioni is Chief Operating Officer for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In this role, Gina oversees the Media Operations and Data organization and is responsible for delivering growth and innovation by driving collaboration and optimization across Comcast and the industry, solving for customer needs, and creating foundations and systems that will power the TV advertising ecosystem for years to come. For instance, Gina and her team spearhead key initiatives including measurement innovation, addressable/targeted advertising, data enablement, and industry partnerships, amongst others.

A 14-year veteran of Comcast, Gina previously served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations for Comcast Advertising and Xumo, where she led strategy and execution across the advertising division of Comcast Cable, spanning FreeWheel, Effectv – which is now part of Media Solutions and operating under the Comcast Advertising brand – and AudienceXpress.

At the same time, Gina played an integral role in the leadership and development of Xumo, a joint venture with Comcast and Charter formed to develop and offer a next-generation streaming platform for the entire entertainment industry. For Xumo, she managed the Xumo Advertising business, strategy, program governance and execution, data solutions, and research, all in support of driving distribution and engagement. Gina served as the connective tissue to strengthen the collaboration between Xumo and Comcast Advertising, unifying the overall operationalization of ad monetization across the company.

Prior to joining Comcast Advertising, Gina progressed through several leadership positions within Comcast Cable’s residential products organization, beginning first as Senior Director of Internet and Voice Product Management, followed by Executive Director of Strategy and Operations, working across all products. From there, she became Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for the consumer services group.

Gina began her career in management consulting at Accenture where she worked within the communications, media, and entertainment sector on projects ranging from large scale systems transformations to customer experience and product strategy.

Gina is on the board of directors for Blockgraph, and her industry contributions have led her to be recognized as one of Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media – as an Innovator and Disruptor, a Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Network Ally, and one of of Cablefax’s Most Powerful Women.

Gina holds a Bachelor of Science in management science and information systems from The Pennsylvania State University. She currently resides in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Karen Seminara is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In this role, Karen provides the overall financial stewardship for Comcast Advertising, leading the company’s financial strategies and operations. She also works closely with the company’s leadership to drive business performance and achieve growth goals.

With more than 25 years of experience leading financial teams at global organizations, Karen previously worked at Viacom before joining Comcast Advertising in 2020. At Viacom, she was Senior Vice President of Finance for global consumer products and domestic media networks, including flagship properties BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Pluto TV. Karen also served as Chief Financial Officer for the Nickelodeon Group and led production operations and consumer products operations.

Before joining Viacom, Karen held financial leadership positions at NBCUniversal, including Chief Financial Officer for Bravo and Vice President of Finance for leading local New York and New Jersey TV stations WNBC and WNJU. She also oversaw financial planning and analysis at CNBC, CNBC.com and MSNBC, NBC Corporate, and NBCU and Telemundo local stations. Karen started her career in accounting at Deloitte.

Karen has a Master of Business Administration in finance and marketing from New York University and Bachelor of Science in commerce with a concentration in accounting from the University of Virginia. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Michele Skettino is Vice President of Communications for Comcast Advertising. In this role, Michele leads the team that oversees internal, external, and strategic communications for the company and its associated brands. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, she works together with fellow leaders to promote strategic messaging and meaningful storytelling in today’s evolving media landscape.

To further the Comcast Advertising’s reputation as a leader in the video advertising industry and help drive business growth, Michele oversees several areas including thought leadership content development and distribution, press, speaking and media relationships. In addition, she leads the internal communications team efforts to ensure aligned and impactful communication throughout the company.

Michele has extensive experience in marketing communications, specializing in media and advertising technology. Prior to her current role, Michele served as Vice President of Strategic Communications for Comcast Advertising. Before joining Comcast in 2018, she led marketing communications for Videology, a video advertising technology company. She also served as Partner of Marketing Communications at MediaCom as well as Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Interep.

Michele graduated from Holy Cross College with a major in English and earned a Master of Arts in communications from Emerson College. She is also a graduate of Comcast Advertising’s Women in Leadership program. Michele resides with her husband in New York City.

Dawn Lee Williamson is Chief Revenue Officer of Comcast Advertising’s Media Solutions team, which provides a streamlined way for advertisers to build brand relevancy and sustainable business outcomes through multiscreen TV advertising campaigns – powered by the media, data, and technology assets of Comcast. In this role, she oversees all of Comcast Advertising’s U.S. media sales assets spanning agency, local, regional, and national; political, media & entertainment, and automotive; programmatic and addressable; and AudienceXpress. She also leads Sales Development, in addition to the new Agency Strategy & Partnerships team that will establish the go-to-market strategy across all lines of business, bridging Comcast’s media, data, and tech assets for national agencies in coordination with Comcast Advertising’s data teams.

Dawn joined the company as Regional Vice President for Effectv – which is now part of Media Solutions and operating under the Comcast Advertising brand – in the Southeast region in 2018. Under her leadership, the Southeast became Effectv’s top performing region in 2020. Dawn and her team fueled this growth by expanding existing customer relationships and creating new revenue opportunities.

In 2021, Dawn stepped up to serve as the Head of Sales Development at Effectv, leading the company’s new 300+ person sales development organization designed to accelerate Effectv’s client-centric approach to customer success. In this role, she oversaw a team focused on understanding clients’ holistic business needs, developing the right solutions to reach those brands’ audiences across screens, and driving measurable outcomes. Additionally, at the same time, Dawn led Mnemonic, Effectv’s in-house creative agency, and was the Executive Sponsor of the Salesforce implementation.

Dawn came to Comcast from VICE Media, where she was Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Advertising Sales. There, she led revenue-generating strategies through custom client solutions, agency and media partnerships and other initiatives that reinforced and drove VICE’s value proposition in the marketplace. Before VICE Media, Dawn oversaw all commercial activity for BBC World News TV and BBC.com for the Americas (North America and Latin America). She also held global and domestic leadership roles at Turner Broadcasting System, TNT, CNN, and Cartoon Network.

Dawn is a two-time Cablefax “Most Influential Minority in Cable” honoree, a 2023 and 2024 Cablefax Diversity & Pride honoree, a former member of Effectv’s Diversity Board, and current National Champion for the Comcast, Asian Pacific American Employee Resource Group. She is also a member of She Runs It, an industry organization that aims to cultivate and promote female talent throughout all levels in marketing, media, and technology and mentors for Mentoro, a non-profit organization that mentors young professionals in the retail, media and tech industry.

Dawn has published articles in Ad Age and spoken at many industry conferences – including the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Legislative Leadership Summit, ASOTU CON, the Digital Marketing World Forum Expo, and Matrix Solutions’ Media Ad Sales Summit. Additionally, Dawn graduated from the Betsy Magness Women’s Leadership, National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Executive Leadership program and the Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, WICT Network’s Senior Executive Summit (SES).

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Arts with a focus on East Asian studies and economics from New York University. She currently resides in Miami with her family.

Scott Weisenthal is Head of Global Marketing and Insights for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players.

In this role, he oversees all global marketing and brand strategy for the company, leading efforts in brand management, social marketing, insights and analytics, events, and creative design and execution. This includes the Media Solutions team, which provides a streamlined way for advertisers to build brand relevancy and sustainable business outcomes through multiscreen TV advertising campaigns – powered by the media, data, and technology assets of Comcast; FreeWheel, Comcast Advertising’s media and technology arm that provides the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers; and Universal Ads, which enables brands of any size to seamlessly create, buy, and measure ads across premium video directly from top publishers with no fees, unlocking new opportunities as a complementary strategy to social advertising.

Before joining Comcast Advertising, Scott progressed through several leadership positions within the realm of marketing. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for Major League Baseball. During his tenure, he spearheaded some of the biggest marketing initiatives in media and sports, including the league’s rule changes campaign. Prior to Major League Baseball, he was Head of the Washington Post Creative Group and Vice President, Global Creative and Content Marketing at Marriott International. While at Marriott, he launched Marriott Bonvoy, the hotel chain’s loyalty program. He also held several leadership roles at NBCUniversal.

With over 20 years of experience at several Fortune 500 companies, Scott’s industry achievements are extensive – with more than 100 awards for his work across video, digital, social, and print. He has been honored by prominent organizations including Cannes, Clio, Creativity, BDA, GE Ovation, Mobius, Promax, Streamy, and Webby. Notably, Scott won a Cannes award for producing a documentary that highlights a women’s baseball team in the Yucatan, showcasing the potential of women and girls in the sports industry. Additionally, he is the author of three novels, with a fourth in progress, blending his passion for storytelling with his commitment to fostering a culture of kindness and collaboration in the workplace.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in film studies from Emory University and also received a certificate from the Executive Development Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He currently resides in New York with his wife, Tammy, and their three children.