Events

Caroline Beasley was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. on January 1, 2017, previously serving as interim Chief Executive Officer from March 18, 2016 until December 31st, 2016 and as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary beginning in 1994. She has served as a Director of Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. since she joined the Company in 1983. Over her tenure prior to 1994, Ms. Beasley was employed in various positions, including Business Manager, Assistant Controller and Corporate Controller.
She currently serves as the Joint Board Chair of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Board of Directors and is a past Chairman of the NAB Radio Board. In addition, Ms. Beasley is a member of the BMI Board of Directors and the Broadcasters Foundation of America Board of Directors.
In 2017, she was honored by Radio Ink magazine as “Radio Executive of the Year”. Ms. Beasley was named one of the “40 Most Powerful People in Radio” in 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017. In addition, she has been recognized in the magazine’s “Most Influential Women in Radio” listing on an annual basis since 2003.
Ms. Beasley received the 2016 “Distinguished Service Award” from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters and was the 2012 recipient of the “Frances Preston Trailblazer Award” from the Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group (MIW), a national organization dedicated to promoting the advancement of women to senior positions in the radio industry.

She is a member of the Board of Visitors at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina, where Ms. Beasley earned a B.S. degree.

Amy Emmerich is the chief content officer at Refinery29, the leading digital lifestyle media company for women. She has more than 20 years of experience developing content and programming for brands including Refinery29, MTV Networks, Travel Channel, and Vice Media. An award-winning producer, she has a full spectrum of production and development experience across platforms, including linear television, digital video, and emerging social media. She is committed to creating a dialogue with a powerful generation of women around topics that matter.

Kathleen Finch is Chief Programming, Content & Brand Officer for all six Scripps Networks Interactive brands. She was promoted to this position in August of 2015 after serving as President of HGTV, DIY Network and Great American Country.

During her tenure as President of the Home Category, Finch led the networks to record ratings and revenues. She launched such notable talent-driven series as Ellen’s Design Challenge, The Property Brothers, Love It or List It, The Vanilla Ice Project and DIY Network Blog Cabin, the first ever interactive home renovation series produced on-air and online. Before joining HGTV and DIY Network, Finch spent seven years at the Food Network as Senior Vice President of Primetime Programming.

Prior to joining Scripps Networks in 1999, Finch was a journalist working in both broadcast and print. She spent 12 years as a CBS Network News producer, traveling the world to cover breaking news and events in diverse locations such as Cuba and the U.K.

A graduate of Stanford University, the CTAM Executive Management Program, WICT’s Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and the Scripps Leadership Institute, Finch is a WICT and Multichannel News “Woman to Watch.” She’s also been named one of TIME’s “100 Industry Innovators to Watch” and featured in Broadcasting & Cable’s “The Next Wave: B&C’s Annual Salute to Women Who Make a Difference.” Most recently, Finch was named WICT’s Woman of the Year for 2016.

Finch is a member of The Committee of 200 and serves on the board of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Susan Swain is co-Chief Executive Officer and President of C-SPAN, the nation’s eighth largest cable television network. Since March 2012, she has shared responsibility with Rob Kennedy for day-to-day operations, board relationships, and long-term strategy for the nonprofit public affairs network, seen in nearly 100 million cable and satellite homes.

At C-SPAN, Susan oversees programming for C-SPAN’s three television channels, C-SPAN.org and C-SPAN Radio. She helped launch BookTV and American History TV–48 hour weekend blocks featuring non-fiction books and history and the network’s traveling “Local Content Vehicles.” She has been involved in the creation of numerous C-SPAN history series, such as American Writers, American Presidents, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, The Contenders, and First Ladies. On the marketing side, Susan oversees press and social media efforts for C-SPAN, guided the development of the traveling C-SPAN Bus and led the publication of C-SPAN’s nine books. Her latest is First Ladies.

For thirty plus years, Susan has also been an on-air interviewer for C-SPAN. She has covered eight presidential elections and interviewed hundreds of members of Congress, policy experts, journalists, Supreme Court justices, and a few presidents and first ladies. She has been the on-air moderator for C-SPAN’s major history series. Her on-air work has taken her to China, to Saudi Arabia during “Desert Storm” and onboard a nuclear submarine and an aircraft carrier.

Susan also serves as a director of Discovery Communications, Inc., a global non-fiction content distributor and spent 11 years as a director of The Talbots, Inc. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including as a current board member and former chair of the National Press Foundation. A longtime member of the National Press Club, Susan was a founding board member of the Cable Television Public Affairs Association. She is a two-time winner of the Vanguard Award, the cable industry’s highest professional recognition and has also been recognized by her industry as a CableTV Pioneer.

Susan has spent much of her professional career at C-SPAN, beginning as a producer in the network’s early start-up days. Later positions included Vice President of Corporate Communications, Senior Vice President and most recently, Executive Vice President and co-COO. Before joining C-SPAN, Susan worked for Raytheon Service Company in Cambridge, MA. Her first position was in marketing and PR for the experiential educational company Up with People. While still in college, Susan got her start in broadcasting as a part-time reporter for the local CBS affiliate.

Long interested in education, Susan launched the company's "C-SPAN Classroom" project, one of the cable industry's first outreach programs to middle and high schools, now serving more than 60,000 teachers. She served for six years as a trustee of her alma mater, The University of Scranton (PA), which awarded her a BA in communications, magna cum laude and, later, an honorary doctorate. Most recently, she co-chaired the advisory committee for the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University.

A native of the Philadelphia area, Susan is a longtime resident of the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. She can be found on Twitter at @CSPANSusan.

As President of Premiere Networks, a division of iHeartMedia, Julie Talbott oversees the operation of Premiere Networks’ industry-leading roster of more than 90 radio programs and services, while managing business partnerships with talent, and leading and maintaining key affiliate relationships to sell and service Premiere Networks and Total Traffic & Weather Network.

The Kentucky native started her career in advertising at BBDO in New York, but her love of radio took her to MJI Broadcasting, where she spent 19 years. As COO of MJI, Talbott was instrumental in growing the company from five people to more than 150. When Premiere Networks acquired MJI in 1999, Talbott joined the company as Senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing Solutions, focusing on advertising sponsorships. In 2003, she was promoted to Executive Vice President, Affiliate Relations, overseeing a staff that increased affiliations for programs hosted by Glenn Beck, George Noory, Steve Harvey, Keith Sweat, Elvis Duran, FOX Sports Radio and others. Talbott was named President, Content and Affiliate Relations for Premiere Networks in 2009, and that title was extended to the National Media Groups division of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (now known as iHeartMedia) in 2012. She was elevated to the role of Premiere Networks President in 2014.