Kelly Ann Sole wants to do for CNBC and MSNBC what she did for the Los Angeles Times increase revenues and audience.
“My top priority is to raise the visibility for CNBC throughout the Western region,” says Sole, new director of Western region ad sales and marketing for NBC Cable Networks. “In a number of ways, we plan on getting out more in the community in the Silicon Valley, getting to know the technology accounts and the convergence accounts, and how it relates to the content we provide.”
After joining the Times in 1996 as national sales manager for financial advertising, Sole increased revenues in that category by 21 percent. She became one of the paper’s general managers the following year, with responsibility for increasing readership and profitability of the business section. Earlier this year, her role was expanded to include responsibility for the sports section and the national edition.
“I had a great run at the L.A. Times,” she says. “It’s one of the all-time great newspapers. But I have a real love of broadcasting and the Internet, and that’s where the biggest growth is happening.”
CNBC is a joint service of NBC and Dow Jones that reaches 69 million homes. In partnership with Microsoft, NBC also owns and operates MSNBC, a 24-hour cable news network and Internet service that reaches 50 million American homes.
Sole said one of her priorities will be expanding the practice of augmenting TV content with extended Internet coverage. “We know every time we mention the dot-com, the click-throughs spike up significantly,” she says.
Sole has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola Marymount University and is a graduate of the executive management program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.
Born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, she says the environment was good preparation for her fast-paced career in advertising.
“It’s pretty cold, but it’s a great place to grow up, have good family values, and a sense of community. It enabled me to run as far and as fast as I have,” she says.
Jolie Gorchov
