6. Melinda Witmer
EVP/Chief Video & Content Officer
Time Warner Cable
Witmer’s fingerprints are all over TWC, from the launch of two new regional sports networks last year to an intense standoff with CBS this summer that reopened the debate on retransmission consent reform on Capitol Hill. In addition to overseeing the company’s video and content products and strategy, Witmer oversees its 34 regional and local news, sports, traffic, weather and lifestyle channels. “I have a team that makes me laugh when I should cry, picks each other up when we are down and knows how to make the worst possible situation seem like an opportunity,” she says. “I have said many times, it wouldn’t matter what we were doing—swirling cones at Dairy Queen or making major media deals—this team would make it seem a lot less like work and a lot more like an adventure.”