Mary McLaughlin

SVP, Beltway Region, Comcast

A little more than a year ago, McLaughlin concluded a five-year run as SVP of Comcast’s Western New England Region in order to take on her role in the D.C. area, where she now leads multidisciplinary teams of more than 5,000 employees. McLaughlin is focused on transforming the customer experience and delivering the company’s best-in-class products to more than 2 million customers in Maryland, Virginia and the District, as well as parts of Delaware, North Carolina and West Virginia. She feels that cable does a good job of attracting talented women, but sees room for growth. Creating “the most talented and diverse senior leaders and boards of directors should be our focus,” McLaughlin says.

Which sector of the cable industry best demonstrates gender equality? Which could use some enlightenment?

As an industry, we do a good job attracting young, talented women. However, we can do a better job retaining and growing these women into leadership, C-suite and Board positions. Enabling women’s full potential to create the most talented and diverse senior leader teams and boards of directors should be our focus across all sectors of the industry.

What advice would you give your 13-year-old self?

Believe in yourself.

Which current programming best reflects the kind of women’s roles you like to see and why?

I love to see confident women taking charge of their lives and their careers – whether it be Lucy Lui in “Elementary,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Veep,” Tea Leoni in “Madam Secretary” or Taraji P. Henson in “Empire” – they are all so inspiring to watch.