Former Fort Wayne Urban League Leader-Gayle Greer

Christopher Vaugh's article which appeared in Black Enterprise

Gayle Greer, the highest-ranking black woman at a cable company, is a quintessential mentor. She is both office and group vice president, national division, of the second-largest cable system in the country, Denver-based American Telecommunication Corp. (ATC). Greer oversees operations at ATC's 25 cable operators in the Midwest. Her department of more than 350 employees brings in $95 million in revenues annually. The executive has been at ATC for almost 14 years, and says the senior vice president who hired her, proved that mentioning can be valuable for a young executive's career.

"I had a master's degree in social work and was working as executive director of Fort Wayne, Indiana's Urban League, trying to get minorities invilved in cable franchising, when ATC approached me about a job. I knew virtually nothing about the cable industry," she recalls. "The timing was excellent, though. [Cable] was an emerging young industry and lots of folks were being hired at that time. Luckily, David Kinley, the guy who hired me, took an interest in may career and guided me by identifying various political and business relationships that proved key to my develepment."

Even with her degree and Urban League credentials, Greer started at a low-level job, recruiting cable franchises in different cities so that ATC could build its cable operating system. While there were no minority officers at ATC, she realized that the bottom-level training she was getting would teach her how the cable business really operates, and would help her to grow right along with it. There were five other blacks hired with her, and she is the only one of that group left at ATC. "I had the experience of what it's like to work in a 'man's world' while I was working in Indiana. In fact, the first time I became aware of sexism was from my black brothers at the Urban League," she says. "When I got into cable, it was rougher and more intimidating, but it wasn't something totally new. I advise everyone I talk to--especially black women--to make sure you understand what you want from this business and to have a lot of inner strength, or it will chew you up. When I was in franchising, I went into offices and was asked to leave the room because the guy I was scheduled to meet with refused to deal with a black woman."
Harsh realities such as these make Greer determined to help others climb the ladder to cable's corporate boardrooms. "I just brought in two black women to handle marketing and customer service in the Indiana area, and one of them is definitely on her way," Greer says. "There are definitely management opportunities in this business for minorities. Sometimes it helps, rather than hinders, to be black and a woman. It certainly helped me coming in."

After 11 years in purchasing and advertising personnel at Procter & Gamble and four years as an account supervisor at the New York-based Ogilby & Mather advertising agency, LaVida Dowdell-Cammon moved to the cable industry. She began in 1989 as director of trade marketing for Showtime Networks Inc., where she handled advertising programs, advertising support and sales support for the network's affiliates. Today, as Showtime's vice president of advertising and field marketing, she develops consumer and trade advertising and oversees five employees and a seven-figure budget.

As the only black woman at the executive level in the company, Dowdell- Cammon acknowledges that at times she feels "extremely visible." But she says her confidence in her own ability helps her deal with the uncomfortable realities of advancement that may be harder for some to ignore.

"I've felt confindent all along that I could do a good job, and that goes a long way in allowing you to ignore whatever glass ceiling is said to exist. I can understand, though, how a black man's radar goes up quicker than mine when the' glass ceiling' or 'advancement' discussion begins," says the 39-year old Dowdell-Cammon. "I always thish of how something could be done better, and never think that anyone wouldn't want me to have the job or the assignment. I've alwas thought I was qualified for whatever assignment I was up for."