Richard Plepler

Title: Co-President, HBO
Education: BA, Franklin & Marshall

Michael Lombardo

Title: President, HBO Programming
Education: AB, Cornell; JD, U of California, Berkeley

Sue Naegle

Title: President, HBO Entertainment
Education: BA, Indiana U

Why Them? Even this trio, who’ve embodied the slogan “you’ve got to spend money to make money,” sit back and take inventory now and again. With only one major original release, medieval thriller “Game of Thrones,” the past year was an anomaly for the network. Perhaps just as unusual, HBO pulled in only a small parcel of Emmys to its 104 nominations this time around—though Scorsese’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones” had nice showings. But don’t worry. Not surprisingly, Lombardo, Plepler and Naegle have a parcel of new goodies up their sleeves for 2012. They green-lit the new Aaron Sorkin cable news network drama (we’re thinking one part “Sports Night,” one part “Social Network,” one part “West Wing”), and have Ricky Gervais comedy “Life’s Too Short,” ridiculously star-studded “Luck” and rejiggered comedy “Veep” in the cue.

Richard Plepler

The biggest innovation in cable over the last year: HBO GO
My favorite “going out” town: NYC
My favorite sports team: NY Giants
My favorite vacation spot: South of France

Michael Lombardo

My favorite meal that I can also prepare myself: Rice and beans
The one topping that should never be put on a hot dog: Ketchup
My favorite restaurant: Hatfields
Worst thing I’ve ever heard someone say in a meeting: “This is going to be a hit.”
My best technique for deterring time-wasting office visits from co-workers: No office visit is a waste of time.

Sue Naegle

My favorite meal that I can also prepare myself: Pasta Pomodoro with fresh basil
The one thing I tell my kids about success in life: Work hard and be prepared. Success is never an accident.
The top 3 most played selections on my iPod: Elmo singing the ABC’s with India Aria, “Blackbird“ by the Beatles and “Shenandoah” by Dan Zanes. Currently they’re my kids’ favorite songs.
My favorite vacation spot: Hawaii. I’m a water baby and love the beach.
My favorite iPad app: Epicurious
My guilty television pleasure is: “Intervention.” I hope for a happy ending every time.
If I invented my own app it would be… a cooking app that plans the meal, orders the groceries to the house and sends someone over to clean up the mess.  I bet the Jetsons had one of those.