Featured Alumni

Kim Martin: Winning Them Over
"My goal had been to run a company, and I knew that this was the right  fit."

 When the position of general manager for WE (Women's Entertainment) TV became available, Robinson MBA graduate Kim Martin (MBA '87) knew that she was the right person for the job. Her only challenge was convincing upper management. "When the position first became available, I met with the CEO of Rainbow and told him that I wanted to be considered for the job," said Martin. She had joined the company five years prior as executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing for AMC Network, which included AMC, Rainbow's 24-hour, movie-based network, and WE. At the time the position became available, Martin was serving as executive vice president, distribution and affiliate marketing, for AMC, WE, and several other Rainbow properties. "My goal had been to run a company and I knew that this was the right fit," she said.

Martin actually started out wanting to be a lawyer and graduated with a political science degree but quickly realized that law wasn't for her. Instead, she turned to business and moved from a small town in Georgia to Atlanta and found a job working as a pharmaceutical sales rep. Without a business degree, though, this self-described lifelong learner knew that if she wanted to advance she would need a stronger business education. So she enrolled at Robinson to pursue her MBA. "It was exactly what I was looking for because everything that I learned in class was 100 percent transferable to the real world," she said. When it was time to graduate, Martin decided on a slightly less traditional path than most of her classmates. "They were all interviewing with banks and investment firms, but I wasn't interested in any of those industries." Instead, she found her passion when she heard of a friend who secured a position at MTV. "Growing up in a small town, cable television was our connection to the world and I loved it. When I heard about the MTV job, I knew it was what I wanted to do."

Martin's first cable position was with Discovery Communications, which at the time as a start-up network. She spent 12 years there and advanced to senior vice president of affiliate sales for Discovery Networks just prior to joining Rainbow Media.

 When Martin was told that she wasn't quite ready to head up WE, she didn't let it stop her and saw it as a challenge. "I set out to learn everything that I could about the network. I interviewed every single employee and I watched the network nonstop." She kept tabs on the search, watching as managers brought in outside candidates. But aft er six months, she won them over by presenting the CEO with a comprehensive plan documenting her vision for the network, which included changing the focus from movies to original hour and half-hour programming.

Since Martin has taken over, viewership in the network's key demographics (women 18–49 and 25–54) has increased by 27 percent, and 40 percent of the programming is now original content.

"That plan has served as my blueprint, and everything I did to put it together I learned at Robinson," said Martin. Her decision to pursue an MBA enabled her to find her passion and overcome a few roadblocks along the way.

 

This article was published in the spring 2007 issue of Back to Business, an alumni publication of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

Kim Martin, MBA '89
  Kim Martin, MBA '87
   General Manager,
   WE TV   (Women's
   Entertainment TV)