Episode 3

What's Next with Donna Speciale

ABOUT EPISODE

On this episode of The What's Next Podcast, Karim speaks with Donna Speciale about her background and passion for the media landscape. Donna is the President of U.S. Advertising Sales and Marketing, TelevisaUnivision.

ABOUT DONNA SPECIALE

As President of U.S. Advertising Sales and Marketing at TelevisaUnivision, the world’s leading Spanish-language media and content company, Donna Speciale leads advertising sales and marketing across the company's portfolio of broadcast, cable, digital, audio and live event platforms in the U.S. – including its renowned entertainment, news and sports properties as well as its ad-supported streaming service, ViX. Since joining the company in January 2021, Speciale has transformed and modernized TelevisaUnivision’s U.S. ad sales business to deliver record ad revenue growth.

An industry trailblazer, Speciale has extensive knowledge of sales optimization spanning over two decades. Prior to this role, she served as President of Advertising Sales at WarnerMedia where she oversaw advertising revenue for the company’s domestic entertainment, news and kids multimedia brands. During her tenure, Speciale played a critical role in the groundbreaking launch of OpenAP, the first open platform for TV advertisers to reach audiences across publishers. Before WarnerMedia, she was President of Investment, Activation and Agency operations at MediaVest Worldwide, overseeing the agency’s integrated digital, broadcast, print, and out-of-home practice. Speciale also held senior roles at WPP's Mediacom earlier in her career.

Speciale has been recognized with numerous accolades throughout her career, including Multichannel News’ “Wonder Women,” Adweek50, Variety’s “New York Impact Report” and Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame as well as the “Advertising Woman of the Year,” “Impact Award” and “Working Woman Award” from SheRunsIt. She received the “Reisenbach Award for Distinguished Citizenship” by the John A. Reisenbach Foundation in 2014.

About the Podcast

Show artwork for The What's Next Podcast
The What's Next Podcast
Big Ideas in 20 minutes on What's Next in your world

About your host

Profile picture for Karim Kanji

Karim Kanji

Are you constantly thinking and preparing for What's Next? Our podcast seeks to gain a diverse perspective on What's Next for the working world, the real world, the virtual world, our careers, our planet, our businesses, our happiness, and much more! But don't worry, our big ideas are in 20-minute bite-sized chunks!

I'm your host Karim Kanji, and I am excited to share talks with business leaders, professors, specialists, authors, thinkers, basically the people who know their stuff on What's Next in their space. If you're as curious as I am about what's next, join me and invest 20 minutes of your day exploring big ideas and innovative thoughts.

The podcast is brought to you by Active International, a global leader in Corporate Trade within the Media & Advertising industry.