Cable television executive to present on the importance of creativity


Steve Koonin


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LAWRENCE ― Steve Koonin, the mastermind of several successful cable television networks, will present "Creativity: Why Great Ideas Matter More than Ever" at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at the Lied Center of Kansas.

The event is free and open to the public.

Koonin's talk is part of a series of presentations he will give on the KU campus as "professor for a day." He will meet with MBA and undergraduate students in leadership and business management classes, and he'll venture to Kansas City to talk to alumni and executives about the importance of creativity in business.

As president of Turner Entertainment Networks, Koonin oversees programming, marketing, scheduling, strategy and operations of top networks in cable: TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies and truTV. In addition, Koonin works for Turner Broadcasting Sales to boost ad sales for the entertainment networks.

He has led TBS and TNT under "ramped-up original series production" to rebrand TNT (TNT: "We Know Drama"), TBS (TBS Very Funny), and truTV (formerly known as Court TV).

Before joining Turner, Koonin worked at The Coca-Cola Company, where he served as vice president of consumer marketing. His duties included positioning and development of brand- and sales-boosting strategies in the United States. In 1998, Koonin was named Sports Executive of the Year by Sports Business Journal.

Koonin studied marketing at the University of Georgia. He serves on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Aquarium, the Fox Theatre and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Koonin is also on the board of the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer, GameStop.

Turner Entertainment Networks, a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and various media outlets for consumers around the world.


Thu, 10/11/2012

author

Austin Falley

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Austin Falley

School of Business

785-864-3852