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Media Contact: Melissa A. Hicks, 484.888.6766
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, July 29, 2025 —During today’s C2HR CON, the Content & Connectivity Human Resources Association presented HR Game Changers Awards to 10 distinguished award recipients (see group photo below). This awards program celebrates extraordinary talent across C2HR’s community of 4,800 human resources professionals in the technology, media and entertainment sectors by honoring the professionals who go above and beyond their human resources roles to innovate, drive results and elevate the employee experience.
“C2HR applauds the achievements of the 2025 class of HR Game Changers. The honorees are visionaries who are defining the future of work with their leadership and dedication to people-first strategies,” said Parthavi Das, the Executive Director for C2HR.
The HR Game Changers span five award categories. To view photographs of each award recipient, please visit https://c2hr.org/2025-winners/.
For the first time, C2HR honored an individual with the Rising Star Award. This honor was bestowed upon Stephanie Chang, Manager of HR Strategic Programs at Comcast Business, who is blazing trails early in her career by constantly seeking ways to leverage new technologies in the spirit of automation, process refinement and cross-functional collaboration. She began her Comcast career as a remote intern during COVID, and since then has tackled roles in talent management, employee engagement and strategic HR programs. Stephanie has a unique ability to take bold ideas and transform them into actionable plans, consistently making a significant impact on her team’s productivity and success.
Cultivators build culture and amplify employee engagement by encouraging cross-department communication and collaboration. They are true ambassadors of relationship building and the glue that binds countless employees into a unified, synergistic team. The 2025 Cultivators include one individual and one team from Comcast.
Gabby Harvilla builds culture and amplifies employee engagement in her role as Senior Employee Engagement Specialist at Comcast Advertising. A sterling example is the leadership she provides to the Virtual Engagement Community, an initiative designed to foster an equitable culture for 1,500 virtual and 3,500 in-office teammates. Gabby has been instrumental in designing, producing and implementing a variety of recurring experiences from light-hearted activities, such as the pop-culture club, to enriching programs like Water Cooler Wednesdays and book clubs. Gabby’s initiatives help employees connect, network and build meaningful relationships.
The Comcast HR Council was created to focus on inclusion and career wellbeing for 8,000+ employees across Comcast’s Residential Growth and Operations teams. Led by Josie Phelps and Tim Taylor, the Council consists of teammates from various business units at different career levels. During its first year, the Council developed tools, learning platforms, networking opportunities and developmental training including 150 mentorship pairings with a participant NPS score of 100, 3 Ways to Wellness workshops with 400+ participants and Meet 3 cross-functional pairings with senior level leaders.
In their quest to elevate others, Ignitors champion development and mentoring programs. Their commitment to creating a clear pathway for advancement is inspiring! The 2025 Ignitor Awards were presented to one individual and one team.
Through innovative thinking, collaboration and a steadfast commitment to mentorship, Chelsea Bowes, Senior Director of HR at Hearst Television, has set a new benchmark for what visionary leadership looks like. Chelsea introduced HTV’s Mentorship Program and personally matched each pairing of 1,500 partners over three years. Her efforts not only resulted in enhanced efficiency and innovation, but inspired team members to approach challenges with unity and shared insight, fostered a sense of belonging and created clear pathways for professional growth. Chelsea inspires everyone around her to raise their own standards of excellence.
The second honoree in the Ignitors category is the NBCUniversal Local Stations HR Team comprised of Javier Ortiz, Olga Aldape and Ivelisse Varona. Together they identified an opportunity to build core management and leadership skills across the critical population of middle managers. They built a multi-experience program, called ADVANCE, which is almost entirely driven by internal talent. To date, Comcast has run eight cohorts of talent, leading to improvements in employee engagement and satisfaction. The success of their program led to a spin-off addressing the pipeline of senior news leadership at Telemundo TV stations.
The two recipients in the Strategist category have the ability to see the big picture and worked tirelessly to advance their vision from a concept to a reality. One individual and one team were honored as Strategists during the luncheon.
Recognizing that customer expectations had shifted, Cox Communications identified a need to restructure the organization to enable elevated customer centricity and segmented portfolio management. Through the leadership, innovative thinking and relentless drive of Marsha Smith, Assistant Vice President of Strategic HR Solutions, a comprehensive transformation roadmap was delivered within just a few months. The new organizational structure features two customer-aligned business units, elevated roles focused on customer experience and consolidated accountability. The result has expedited decision-making, and enhanced digital, analytics and AI capabilities.
The second honoree in the Strategists category is the Comcast Finance & Business Operations HR Team which is driving digital transformation and automation. The team is leading organizational design initiatives in tandem with the rollout of “scan & go” technology in the Supply Chain organization. This transformative shift is allowing warehouse employees to move beyond manual tasks into higher-value roles involving analytics, inventory management and planning—providing both operational gains and upskilling opportunities. The team has also been key to the success of the Digital Changemakers program which is a six-month development journey for 15-25 employees at a time. They learn Alteryx and Data360 Analyze and build real automations tailored to their roles. Launched in 2022, the program has over 100 graduates.
Transformers leverage data, technology and creative thinking to innovate programs, processes and initiatives. This year’s three award recipients are passionate agents of change who exhibit agility and a fierce determination to drive results. Two individuals and one team were presented with this award.
Becca Baier is a Director in the People Development, Inclusion and Impact organization at Paramount Global. Becca’s impact spans many programs – from the new hire experience and employee engagement to performance processes, culture, facilitation and coaching, and AI training. In each of these programs, Becca leverages data, technology, problem solving and creative thinking to create impactful experiences for Paramount Global employees.
Darius Clay, Senior Director of Total Rewards for WOW! Internet, TV & Phone, has actively transformed the company’s total rewards function through data-driven innovation, creative problem solving, and cross-department collaboration. Since joining WOW! nearly two years ago, Darius quickly identified areas for improvement to enhance employee engagement and overall operational performance. By embracing change as an opportunity for improvement, Darius has continuously evolved WOW!’s processes, systems and mindsets by creatively leveraging data, technology and employee insights along the way.
The Midco Human Resources/Corporate Communications Team has significantly enhanced team member engagement and satisfaction. Their innovative approach to internal communications, including the launch of a new intranet platform has fostered a more connected and informed workforce, improved transparency and empowered team members to voice their ideas and concerns, leading to a more collaborative environment. Their implementation of a new HRIS is streamlining processes, improving data accuracy and enhancing the overall team member experience. Additionally, the launch of the final two levels of Leadership Success Drivers has been instrumental in developing leadership capabilities across the organization.
The C2HR award recipients will be featured in the August issue of HR Pulse, C2HR’s member newsletter.
Content & Connectivity Human Resources (C2HR) is a professional association serving nearly 5,000 members from 50 companies spanning the technology, media and entertainment sectors. C2HR provides industry-specific analytics, information and resources, as well as networking and educational opportunities. Its initiatives include the Annual C2HR Compensation Surveys and C2HR CON. For more information, visit www.C2HR.org.
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