Lunch at Michael's with Courteney Monroe, National Geographic Global Networks CEO

Courteneyamp8217s dad is still very much a part of her life now that her family has settled down in the same suburb of Washington DC in which she was raised amp8211 an area her mom and dad who were highschool sweethearts and remain together to this day never left Being back in her home town still comes as a surprise to Courteney after 22 years in the Big Apple During that time the Williams College grad landed her first job amp8211 as an assistant account executive at BBDO amp8211 followed by a position in public relations for Solomon Brothers the pursuit of her MBA at Wharton Business School which took her to Philadelphia for two years nine months in amp8220a traditional postMBA jobamp8221 at American Express and then the beginning of her 13year career in marketing at HBO where she rose to the position of Executive Vice President Consumer Marketing and Digital PlatformsBut somehow Courteneyamp8217s dad always had a feeling she would be back and made that known whenever they discussed his longtime season tickets to Washington Redskins games a cherished family tradition amp8220My grandfather had season tickets at Griffith Stadium the stadium that predated RFKamp8221 she told us With Courteney and her brother both living in and around New York her father a lawyer found himself taking friends to games or giving the tickets to associates Courteney often suggested that he sell the tickets but he wouldnamp8217t hear of it amp8220If you ever move back to Washington you would want themamp8221 heamp8217d sayIt wasnamp8217t all that long ago when Courteney finally said to him amp8220Dad I love you so much but Iamp8217ve been in New York for 22 years Iamp8217m never moving back to Washington If youamp8217re keeping the tickets for me donamp8217t hold on to themamp8221 Fortunately in another example of father knowing best he never gave them up Just six months after she suggested he do so Courteney made the decision with her husband Mike to return to Washington when he was offered a new opportunity there Now the Skinsamp8217 tickets are again enjoyed by the family though Courteneyamp8217s young son has stunned them all by identifying as a Seattle Seahawks fan amp8220Heamp8217s not a Skins fan which really breaks my fatheramp8217s heartamp8221 Courteney laughed amp8220But thereamp8217s still time Heamp8217s only 11 years oldamp8221amp8220I like being backamp8221 Courteney said of her return home Itamp8217s a lovely place to raise a family I feel incredibly fortunate But I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do work wiseamp8221 Courteney explained that she had no interest in leaving her job at HBO at the time of the move amp8220I thought I was committing professional suicide because you donamp8217t leave running marketing at HBO in New York to go to Washington without any job leadsamp8221 she said She continued working for HBO for eighteen months commuting between cities amp8220HBO would have happily had me continue but I just decided having a full time job and a family is challenging enough under the best of circumstances Having a full time job located in another city is hard I felt like I wasnamp8217t doing anything well enough and I was missing chunks of time with my kids That was not who I wanted to be as a motheramp8221Then National Geographic reached out to her and she has now been at National Geographic Channels now National Geographic Partners for four years The first two were as Chief Marketing Officer she added the title CEO in May 2014During the last year Courteney has spearheaded what she describes as a new vision for the primary network amp8220Weamp8217re striving to be the worldamp8217s leading destination for premium science adventure and exploration contentamp8221 she explained amp8220The most important word I would emphasize that is new to our vocabulary is amp8216premiumamp8217 The US channel has only been around for 15 years and has a long history of eventlevel quality programming but the last few years were really marked by wading in the waters of maleskewing reality with a strategy that was much more of a volume play with lots of original low cost hoursamp8220From my perspective the network has never lived up to the promise of the brand either from the brand perspective or the financial perspectiveamp8221 she continued amp8220Weamp8217ve had some shows that have worked but not as well as others in the landscape and I think thatamp8217s mostly because thatamp8217s not what people come to National Geographic Channel for People come to us and expect us to have big audacious highquality distinctive programming that makes sense for this brand Thatamp8217s what weamp8217re focused on doing so now itamp8217s bigger budget Alist talent and big marketing campaignsamp8221Accordingly National Geographic Channel is currently developing programming with such Hollywood heavyweights as Paul Giamatti Ron Howard Brian Grazer and Darren Aronofsky Its recent project with Morgan Freeman the sixpart event amp8220The Story of Godamp8221 instantly became the highestrated series in the channelamp8217s history Still Courteney said itamp8217s a challenge to stand out in the current television environmentamp8220Itamp8217s so competitiveamp8221 she asserted amp8220There is exceptional content being made everywhere The response to our strategy and vision from the creative community has been overwhelmingly positive I think it is driven by a couple of things No 1 the brand Weamp8217ve never been a port of call for these types of producers and filmmakers and thatamp8217s really because we havenamp8217t had the budgets to support their ambitions Nor was their breed of premium programming our ambition But now it is We have the incredible backing of 21st Century Fox Fox Networks Group Chairman and CEO Peter Rice has been very instrumental in opening doors for us Thereamp8217s a lot of talent within the 21st Century Fox family that we are able to tapamp8220What we talk about a lot is the power of storytelling to change the worldamp8221 she continued amp8220We have an incredible portfolio of assets But we are aligned with a real scientific organization which is the National Geographic Society I donamp8217t think people realize that because we are a joint venture 27 percent of all of our proceeds go back to the Society and fund real science real research real education and real conservation When brands support us they are supporting the National Geographic Society Weamp8217re a media company with a purposeamp8221Recent changes in the ownership structure of National Geographic Channels have made all of this possible Courteney explained amp8220The channels have always been a joint venture majority owned by Fox The Society was a nonprofit but also had the magazine travel business and books division Last November Fox invested 725 million in the Society and then brought under one roof in one unified media company all of the media assets that are National Geographic Aside from the channels part of this joint venture which is called National Geographic Partners includes the print and digital magazine the books division travel business an events business and the ridiculously massive digital footprintamp8221The forming of a new corporate culture has been amp8220a fascinating organizational studyamp8221 Courteney reflected amp8220The channels have always been a blend more akin to the Fox culture fastpaced entrepreneurial big thinking but now all of a sudden weamp8217re one company I only oversee the networks but what weamp8217re striving to do as a leadership team is bring together the best of both cultures The Society is dedicated to making the planet a better place but weamp8217re a media company first and foremost The big swings that are part of the Fox culture thatamp8217s what weamp8217re trying to weave into the fabricamp8220The most interesting competitive advantage we now have at National Geographic Partners is that we can go to GE with which the channel developed last yearamp8217s amp8220Breakthroughamp8221 series or other partners and say amp8216Forget just the 30 second spot Align with us across all of our platformsamp8217 For amp8216Marsamp8217 our show that weamp8217re doing with Brain Grazer and Ron Howard about the quest to colonize that planet which is half scripted half unscripted and a big sixpart amazing eventlevel television series there is a cover story in the printdigital magazine about the science of getting to Mars There is a standalone book There is a kidsamp8217 magazine that weamp8217re doing There is a speaker seriesamp8221Getting back to the amp8220massive digital footprintamp8221 Courteney said amp8220We have over 250 million fans across all social media For a brand that is 128 years old we have incredible engagement digitally with Millennials We reach something like 35 percent of the worldamp8217s Millennials Weamp8217re the No 1 noncelebrity brand on Instagramamp8220I keep joking that my goal is to surpass the Kardashians while Iamp8217m hereamp8221 she laughed amp8220Watch out Justin Bieberamp8221Itamp8217s a Lunch at Michaelamp8217s tradition to ask our guests particularly media company executives about any charitable work or altruistic work they do outside of their jobs But it became immediately clear that much of what Courteney does in her position is helpful to people and to the planet itself Still there is an outside cause about which she is passionate amp8220My son has multiple severe food allergies So weamp8217re pretty involved with the Childrenamp8217s National Medical Center in Washington and an organization called FARE amp8211 Food Allergy Research and Educationamp8221amp160 Thankfully her daughter age 9 12 is foodallergy free Editoramp8217s Note Today is the start of Food Allergy Awareness WeekBecause Courteneyamp8217s husband Mike a Marines Special Forces veteran now works for Team Rubicon a disaster relief organization she is also very aware of the value and importance of responding to major crises around the world which also contributes to her understanding of the appeal of National Geographic to Millennialsamp8220Millennials care about the planetamp8221 she said amp8220They tend to support companies that are doing good in the world They are superengaged with us even though we are the worldamp8217s oldest global media brandamp8221 National Geographic dates back to 1888Courteney gives great credit for her growth and continued success to the past and present mentors in her career amp8220My very first boss at BBDO was a woman on the GE account named Sue Haxager Kunze who ultimately went on to run the Visa account There is so much that I learned from her that I still practice todayamp8221 she said amp8220Eric Kessler and Richard Plepler at HBO were huge mentors and influences And Peter Rice I learn something every time I have a conversation with him Also FX Chairman John Landgraf I think he is one of the great thought leaders of our industry I learn so much from watching and observing him When I find myself in situations where Iamp8217m not sure what to do I literally say to myself amp8216What would John Landgraf doamp8217 If I point my compass in that direction I will winamp8221And of course her dadamp8217s advice has always stayed with her as has that of her mom Courteney recalled her saying amp8220amp8216Youamp8217re so smart You need to network moreamp8217 Even when I was working hard she would say amp8216You can do so much more You should follow up with all these great people youamp8217re meeting You just need to dig in moreamp8217amp8221amp8220Now I tell her amp8216Mom I dug in I did itamp8217amp8221The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Lunch at Michael's with Courteney Monroe, National Geographic Global Networks CEO

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