Mike Kelly

Title: President/CEO, The Weather Channel Companies

Years in Cable: 2

Education: BA, U of Illinois

Why Him? As it barrels toward its 30th anniversary in April, Kelly is moving at hurricane speed to transform the Weather Channel Companies’ former siloed structure to a more fluid enterprise that benefits its cross-platform distribution model—a model the former AOL Media Networks president knows is key to the company’s growth, especially in the mobile sector. Weather was the third-most downloaded app on smart phones last year and this May it bested ESPN and Pandora as the leading mobile app with 29.5 unique visitors, according to Nielsen. Under new management post Comcast-NBCU, the Weather Channel continues to drive support for ORMMA, an effort to create ad standards for rich media on mobile advertising.

Calling Bing Crosby: Kelly knows you have to bring it to stand out from the online crowd, like Weather Channel’s Guaranteed White Christmas contest, which last year blanketed a winner’s home with real snow for the holiday.

Year Ahead: With mobile viewing on track to catch or surpass TV, Weather’s forecast looks sunny. ?

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