Sharlene McDuffie

Technology Management, May 2010

Please describe your academic background including the reason(s) for enrolling in the M.S. program at the School of Continuing Education.

I graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio, television and film with a minor in journalism. I was fortunate to gain a foothold in the cable business directly after college. Through various positions, I was exposed to new technology in the changing media business. I felt that enrolling in the M.S. program at Columbia would allow me to gain additional tools to supplement my on the job experience. I wanted to distinguish myself from my peers by immersing myself in a business technology program and after attending the information session I felt the curriculum was compelling.

Please describe your professional background leading up to your current position.

After graduation I worked as a freelance production assistant for Home Team Sports (now Comcast SportsNet). The executives there took notice of me and I was hired as part of the Westinghouse Management Training program. This was a unique opportunity to spend three months in each department of the cable network. I was exposed to engineering, finance, marketing, sales and affiliate relations. This prepared me to understand the cable television business from end to end. I was offered a position to start up the traffic department and worked extensively with hardware and software vendors and in-house operations staff. My next position was with Bell Atlantic Video Services which was the precursor to Verizon's Fios. The phone company was looking to enter the media business, diversify their legacy landline product and fully utilize the fiber optic lines in their region. Stargazer was one of the nation's largest interactive television trials. I worked with the new technology and developed cross-functional operational processes for multiple departments. Due to my foray into new media technology, I was recruited to work for US West (now Qwest). Under the cable and multimedia division I negotiated more than 70 programming contracts with more than 25 cable networks. This was a formidable task as we utilized a new means of video carriage via VDSL (Very high speed Digital Subscriber Line) and the cable networks were unfamiliar with the technology. I partnered with the engineering staff to make presentations to cable executives on the opportunities available to our subscribers. I left Denver and headed back to the East Coast for New York and was hired by software developer for the cable and broadcast industry. I trained new clients on proprietary software, wrote requirements documents and assisted with quality assurance testing. This position led to current employment with MTV Networks as director of business systems and strategy group.

What is a typical day like in your current position?

I originally started on the business side of MTV Networks and was chosen to be one of five employees to establish a new team within Viacom's IS&T division. The business systems and strategy group (BSSG) was created to serve as a bridge between the ad sales department and the applications development department in IT. The chosen employees have a depth of business expertise within the ad sales group but were technically savvy enough to translate the business needs to the developers. In my current role, I serve as a liaison with the ad sales business intelligence unit. My duties include providing support for projects via designing and developing processes for enhancements, creating and maintaining project plans, writing specification documents and proposing strategic recommendation for improvements between IS&T and the business. Every day is different which keeps it interesting. I may attend meetings on business intelligence reporting, requests to create intranet portals or desktop dashboards, meet with the research department on vendor selections or creating a process to integrate a new cable channel acquisition. I meet with diverse levels of executives with dynamically different needs each day.
 
How did the Technology Management program help you prepare for your career?  
 
The Technology Management program has allowed me to take my career to the next level. I have taken on additional responsibility and am now lead for business intelligence and analytics for both on-air and online networks. This encompasses 16 domestic ad supported networks including MTV, VH1, Spike, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and TV Land. The media business is rapidly evolving to include multiple platforms of communication such as wireless, interactive, digital, 3D, video on demand as well as the traditional cable television. My role is to support the ad sales group, the primary revenue stream, no matter how our content is being distributed. The courses I took at Columbia honed my ability to think strategically and globally in order to optimize my contribution to my organization.

What advice would you give to students who wish to pursue careers in Technology Management?

The curriculum in Technology Management allows you to become a well-rounded business individual. The professors push you out of your comfort zone to tilt the picture, so to speak. If you want to cultivate a new skill set and be prepared to think strategically, this is the program for you. In your cohort you will forge new friendships and expand your business network at the same time. Be open to the new theories proposed to you, question what you do not understand and you will grow professionally and personally.