The West Division comprises 12 states, from California to Wisconsin, and Kilstrom is evolving customer care practices across all of them, reducing customer call volume across the region. She plays an influential leadership role in making Comcast easier to do business with, resulting in reduced customer churn and customer service. “As more competitors enter this space, it’s clear to everyone at Comcast that our relationships with our customers are key to our success,” she says. “That’s why Comcast is working to reinvent our customer experience in every way.”
What’s a recent example of a step forward for women in the media industry?
We are committed to having the best thinkers, dreamers, and doers on our team. This means attracting, developing, and retaining brilliant minds from all backgrounds and giving them paths to grow and reinvent their careers. Our aspirational goal is to have 50% women and 33% people of color at every level of our workforce. In our annual Diversity and Inclusion report, Comcast detailed the following key achievements in 2018:
- 63% increase in the number of women at Vice President level and above since 2010
- 52% of all employees report to a woman or person of color
- 7 out of 10 new hires in 2017 were women or people of color, and
- 70% of our new hires in 2017 were women or people of color.
Who is an inspirational woman you admire, and why?
I was inspired to hear the stories of U.S. Women’s Hockey team members Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux. The Lamoureux twins were instrumental in helping Team USA defeat Canada for the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea—the United States’ first gold in 20 years—and are six-time world champions with two previous silver medals at the 2014 and 2010 Olympics. They are also passionate advocates for gender equity—in pay and in overall opportunity. Starting in 2014, the Lamoureux twins were leaders in the U.S. national team’s fight for fair and equal treatment by USA Hockey, including more equitable support as compared to the men’s hockey team and more funding for girl’s youth hockey programs. In March 2017, two days before the 2017 World Championships were scheduled to start in the United States, the women’s hockey team and USA Hockey were able to reach a historic agreement.
I was thrilled to see that they’d joined Comcast in a multiyear partnership to serve as ambassadors and spokespeople for the company’s corporate values initiatives, a commitment to a series of efforts that includes: volunteerism and community service programs like Comcast Cares Day; improved internet access and digital literacy training for low-income Americans; education and mentorship for young people; and a commitment to diversity and inclusion, including gender equity.
What’s been the most dramatic change in your sector of the business today vs. three years ago?
The media and technology landscape becomes more and more fiercely competitive every day. As more competitors enter this space, it’s clear to everyone at Comcast that our relationships with our customers are key to our success. That’s why Comcast is working to reinvent our customer experience in every way. We’re making significant investments in new workforce tools and technology to help our cable technicians, customer service agents, and all our employees deliver better service. We’re increasing sustainable practices—on film sets, in our service centers, in our vehicle fleet, in sports arenas, and more—to meet our customers’ expectations and help our industry drive positive change. And we’re making incredible strides in accessible technology and service that allow all our customers a more seamless connection to content—no matter their abilities, language or location.
