NEW YORK, July 14 NBC Universal communications executive Hilary Smith has been promoted to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Communications, NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks from her previous role as Vice President, NBC Universal Corporate Communications. The announcement was made today by Lauren Zalaznick, President of NBC Universal's Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, to whom Smith will report.
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For the last year and a half, Smith has led communications for Women@NBCU, NBC Universal's female-targeted sales and marketing initiative, and "Green is Universal," the company's environmental initiative. In her new role, she will continue to spearhead communications for both Women and Green, and now adds strategic oversight of all communications for iVillage, the nation's leading online community for women. Additionally, Smith will now be charged with leading communications for NBCU's recently announced health initiative, a companywide effort to connect both consumers and marketers with NBCU's breadth of health and wellness content.
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Smith moves from the company's Corporate Communications department into NBCU's Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks group.
"Hilary has performed an outstanding job leading the strategy to raise awareness and communicate the goals for both Women@NBCU and Green," said Zalaznick. "In her newly expanded role, she will be instrumental in continuing to cement our presence to both consumers and to the trade in the women and lifestyle space, particularly as we gear up for the exciting re-launch of iVillage and roll-out our new health initiative to the marketplace."
Smith will oversee the corporate messaging and media outreach for the consumer, trade and business strategies for Women@NBCU, iVillage, "Green is Universal" and Health. She will also focus on developing an overarching communications strategy to help foster synergies across the female-skewing brands within the Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks division.
Smith joined the Corporate Communications department in 2002 as a director of media relations and was promoted to vice president in 2006. Among her many accomplishments in this role, she helped lead communications for several of NBC's major business transactions, including the merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, as well as the acquisitions of the Telemundo and Bravo television networks. She joined the company as a press manager for "Dateline NBC" in 1998. Prior to that she was a public relations manager at CBS News (July 1996 - October 1998). Smith began her career as a public relations associate for Citibank (June 1993 - June 1996). She is a graduate of Middlebury College with a Bachelors in English.
NBC Universal's Women & Lifestyles Entertainment Networks division is a powerful combination of media assets, including Oxygen Media, "Green is Universal," Women@NBCU, iVillage and Bravo Media.
SOURCE NBC Universal
