LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Comcast further strengthened and expanded its California senior leadership team with the appointment of four new vice presidents who will be responsible for driving the business objectives of the region. The appointments include David Brown, Vice President of Business Services; Ted Girdner, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Business Development; Beth Hester, Vice President of External Affairs and Jeff Votaw, Vice President of Technical Operations.
All vice presidents will be based in the company’s Livermore, California office and report to John Gauder, Regional Vice President for California.
“At Comcast we focus on delivering the best products to our customers while staying competitive in all of our markets in California. Having a leadership team that delivers this expectation is key,” said Gauder. “The business as we know it is changing. To ensure that Comcast maintains its industry leadership, we need leaders like David, Ted, Beth and Jeff who understand and meet the diverse needs of the Golden State’s residents, culture and employees.”
As Vice President of Business Services, David Brown will oversee all of the Comcast Business sales and marketing, engineering, customer operations, financial performance and business strategy in California. Additionally, his team provides the company’s broad suite of telecommunications and technology solutions for small business, large enterprise, and local and state government customers. Before moving to California, David was the Vice President of Business Services in Comcast’s Oregon/Southwest Washington area. He has more than 20 years of experience in the wireline and wireless telecommunications industry. David replaces Ted who will be the new Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Business Development for Comcast NBCUniversal.
As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Business Development, Ted Girdner will be focusing on the future expansion of Comcast’s infrastructure through partnerships with housing developers, municipalities and businesses. Ted’s team will harness the combined capabilities of various Bay Area California entities, including Comcast Ventures, NBCUniversal, Comcast Innovation Center and Comcast Spotlight to serve those communities. He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the telecommunications and cable sector across business development, sales, operations and strategic partnerships.
The California region’s new Vice President of External Affairs is Beth Hester. In her role, Beth will be responsible for leading Government Affairs, External Communications, Community Investment and California Production Group in California. Previously, she served as Comcast’s Vice President of External Affairs for the Seattle, Washington area. Beth has more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, media relations, government affairs and community engagement. Prior to her career at Comcast, Beth was Vice President of Client Services and Director of Public Affairs and Operations at Nyhus Communications.
Jeff Votaw, the region’s new Vice President of Technical Operations, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Comcast California’s Technical Operations. Jeff brings to this role 35 years of industry experience most recently serving as Area Vice President of Field Operations for Comcast in the Sacramento Valley. Prior to that, he was Director of Technical Operations in Seattle for nine years.
About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the XFINITY brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the XFINITY brand. NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.