Ed Erhardt, Christine Driessen, Marie Donoghue & John Kosner
Ed Erhardt
Title: President, Global Sales & Marketing, ESPN
Years in Cable: 17
One Word that Best Describes Me: Happy
Christine Driessen
Title: EVP & CFO, ESPN
Years in Cable: 31
Education: BS, Accounting, Fordham University
Marie Donoghue
Title: EVP, Global Strategy & Original Content, ESPN
Years in Cable: 18
Education: BA Columbia College, JD Columbia Law School
One Word that Best Describes Me: Curious
John Kosner
Title: EVP, Digital and Print Media, ESPN
Years in Cable: 38
Education: Stanford University
One Word that Best Describes Me: Fortunate
The definition of maximizing teamwork for the win, ESPN’s front line of execs celebrated another banner year in 2015 and are on their way to setting new records. Driessen’s strong business acumen played an important role in the company’s broadband Internet strategy and multimedia programming rights agreements. With Kosner at the helm, ESPN Digital Media celebrated its best year ever, breaking its own sports category record in reaching 94.4 million fans in September alone. Donoghue has been expanding her strategy role, driving Fivethirtyeight to traffic highs and pushing new boundaries with ESPN Films. Erhardt, elevated in last May, is leading a bountiful sales team and also developing an insights-driven marketing and data organization to support them.
Ed Erhardt
The biggest innovation in cable over the last year: Sling and Sony Vue
My first job: Classified ad sales at the Soho Weekly News
Favorite charity event you work with: Reisenbach Foundation
“Star Trek” celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year. So if Mr. Spock’s motto is “Live Long and Prosper,” mine is… Health Wealth and Time
Best way to spend a Saturday night: With the NBA and College Football on ESPN and ABC
Favorite Podcast: His and Hers
Favorite vacation spot: Bermuda
Christine Driessen
My first job: Designing and making macramé hand bags in high school and selling them to local boutiques
Favorite charity event you work with: Special Olympics World Games, Los Angeles, July 2015.
“Star Trek” celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year. So if Mr. Spock’s motto is “Live Long and Prosper,” mine is… Make a Positive Impact Every Week.
Best way to spend a Saturday night: Enjoying time with my husband and family.
Hoverboard, driverless car or drone: Driverless car.
Favorite vacation spot: The Low Country in South Carolina.
Marie Donoghue
My first job: Wall Street attorney
New favorite binge: Our new documentary — “OJ: Made In America “
I watch the majority of programming on this device: iPad
Favorite Podcast: FiveThirtyEight Election Podcast
Favorite vacation spot: Costa Rica
My Starbucks order: Tea
John Kosner
Last show I watched not on my network(s): Billions
My first job: Programming assistant at CBS Sports in 1982
What should cable do to improve its image? Make TV Everywhere ubiquitous and easy to use
Best way to spend a Saturday night: At a great NYC restaurant with my wife Diane and son Luke
My cable industry mentor and why: Rex Lardner. Mentored me as an intern at NBC Sports in the late 1970’s and hired me at CBS Sports. Bright, personable and thoughtful. Owe a tremendous amount to him.
Favorite Podcast: The Lowe Post
Favorite vacation spot: Montauk, N.Y.
