Undergraduate Alumni Spotlight
Annenberg School graduates are doing innovative, meaningful work around the world – in academic and professional fields.
Bruce A. Lefkowitz, Penn '87
Executive Vice President
Fox Cable Entertainment Networks
To get to the top, you have to have a passion for what you do – a principle emphasized in resounding pitch by Bruce Lefkowitz. “Twenty-one years after graduation, I still get a kick out of talking about being in the Entertainment business when I’m at cocktail parties.”
As Executive Vice President for Fox Cable Entertainment Networks, Mr. Lefkowitz, an Annenberg undergrad alumni, is at the forefront of media innovation and communication advancement. Responsible for managing national advertising sales, he describes the three networks that he maintains [Fox Channel; National Geographic Channel; and Fox Reality Channel] by characterizing them as his three different children.
“At home, I have six kids with totally different personalities,” says the 6-foot-7 former Penn basketball player, and father to a set of quadruplets and twins. “At work, National Geographic Channel is like my inquisitive child that gets a viewership ranging from age 25 to 54; FX is one of the largest television programs with a viewership age-range of 18 to 49; and Fox Reality is comparable to my irreverent teenage children…all three of these programs are diverse with their own intrinsic needs and require different representation in the large media.”
Prior to this highly-visible media position, Mr. Lefkowitz worked in advertising sales management at Turner Broadcasting and Discovery Communications. He attributes much of his career’s longitudinal success to the practical and novel education he received while at Penn and through the mentorship of Penn alumni, Joseph Cohen (Penn ’68, Wharton’70), current CEO of HTN Communications (formerly Hughes Television Network), who he worked with at Madison Square Garden Network. “Joe offered me the opportunity to get into the media business which not only gave me the career I have, but also ultimately led me to my wife.”
Mr. Lefkowitz stresses the importance of learning the business-side of communications, explaining that many students entering the major are not aware of this integral side, seeing the study as being too broad. “There are two different sides of the communications curriculum,” he said, breaking the major into a formula. “One is a theoretical side and the other is policy-focused, or, the business side. Too often, the business side of this major is overlooked. But this School exposes both sides of the curriculum – one of the chief reasons, frankly, why I chose Penn.”
Mr. Lefkowitz played center for the Penn basketball team. Garnering two Ivy titles, he went on to play for the Philadelphia Aces in the summer of 1987 and briefly in France.
Mr. Lefkowtiz’s professional affiliations include: Board of Directors Vacamas Programs for Youth; City Meals on Wheels Media Battle of the Bands Executive Committee; Valerie Fund Karaoke for Kids Executive Committee; Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame 2007; and Volunteer Harrison Recreation. He now lives in Purchase, New York with his wife and children.
Copyright 2006 The Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania
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