Carl Leuschner

VP, Internet & Phone Product Management
Charter Communications

With oversight over product development, launch and lifecycle management for Charter’s residential Internet and phone products, Leuschner has been key in helping Charter Internet achieve its share of recognition. After all, PC Magazine recently ranked Charter as the nation’s fastest Internet; Netflix just measured and ranked Charter as the #1 streaming performer for Netflix in North America; in Jan, Ookla Net Metrics ranked Charter #1 in download speed, above all of its primary competitors; and the FCC recently ranked Charter above all competitors except FiOS in performance relative to advertised speed. And now on a personal level, Leuschner can add our “15-to-Watch” to the growing list of accolades. With military experience and a famously can-do attitude, Leuschner displays extraordinary discipline and leadership. This guys leads. People follow. And we have a feeling those leadership skills will keep paying dividends for Charter – and for Leuschner.

What personal qualities do you think have helped you get to your current position— – and which ones (that you either now possess or must work on) will advance you to the next level?

I have the opportunity to operate and deliver results at both the near term tactical level and the long term strategic level. As one’s career progresses and additional scope and responsibility is taken on, focus must evolve to the longer term and trust must be placed on one’s team to assume more of the day-to-day tactical work. Cross functional execution is key to the product role at Charter. I have demonstrated an ability to develop strong cross functional relationships, built on mutual respect. This enables me to execute against aggressive timelines in collaboration with cross functional groups that I depend on to deliver new products to market. I respect diverse viewpoints and fundamentally trust that others within the business are also working toward delivering the best products and experiences to our customers. With this philosophy, I know we won’t always agree on the how, but I know that we will reach mutually agreeable compromises.

What digital trend will be the biggest game changer in the next 1-3 years?

In the 1-3 year timeframe, current consumer trends – of video consumption, cloud media storage and IP device proliferation – will continue to drive high bandwidth usage growth rates. This is good for Charter and the industry as our Internet service becomes indispensable in the lives of our consumers. Our ability to integrate video, Internet and phone functionality on a very high bandwidth product is a better value proposition for consumers.