Linda Yaccarino
Years in Cable: 17
Education: BA, Telecommunications, Penn State
Yaccarino is all about integration at NBCU. In a big reshuffle in October, the ad sales division combined broadcast and cable assets under four content areas: Entertainment, Live Programming, Lifestyle and Digital Video. All four division heads report to Yaccarino, who has made it her mission to breakdown silos at the company. She’s also pushed for creativity in ad sales, and we’ve seen some of the breakthroughs such as Ford’s “Tonight Show” stunt. It featured Ford consultants competing to sell Jimmy Fallon a new Ford F-150 by keeping their hands on the truck. Last man standing wins. “This is another example of how we’re teaming with our advertising partners to make content that our audiences genuinely enjoy,” Yaccarino said.