The Why: Regis oversees advertising sales strategy and revenue for HGTV, CNN, ID, TNT Entertainment, Magnolia Network, Travel and HLN. He champions DEI both by working in tandem with the networks to bring diverse content to the screen—like CNN’s exclusive concert in celebration of Juneteenth last year that connected with audiences in more than 200 countries—as well as ensuring the team he oversees represents cultural, ethnic, age and geographical diversity across management, sales and support levels. He’s also an active member of NAMIC and devotes time to mentoring and volunteering.
He Says… “Having diversity present in one’s personal life would help drive inclusivity at the office.”
How do you define inclusion? Being very open and less judgmental with and of others. Recognizing when we fall short and learning from that failure.
What practices should be adopted to make the hiring process more inclusive? I don’t know that I would consider it a process, but having diversity present in one’s personal life would help drive inclusivity at the office.
How have attitudes about DEI changed since you began your career? I think that there’s a bit more discussion and there’s definitely more industry around it, but the attitudes are much the same.