Prior to launching Punch Point, Howell served as the interim head of communications at AMC Network’s SundanceTV in New York where she played an integral role as a member of the organization’s senior leadership team during a management transition and restructure. While at Sundance, Annie led the brand’s comprehensive PR strategy, talent management and awards campaigns for the 2015 Peabody Awards and Primetime Emmys, which garnered multiple nominations for limited series, The Honorable Woman, and lead actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, among others. She launched the second season of The Red Road and the third season of critically-acclaimed series, Rectify. She was responsible for the PR and event campaign strategies for Deutschland 83‘, the first German-language series to air on US television.
Previously she served as executive vice president of corporate communications & media relations for Crown Media Family Networks, home of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc. At Crown, Howell was responsible for directing the full scope of communications and public relations strategies including corporate communications, media relations, publicity, financial PR, social media, and government relations. She also provided strategic guidance to all Crown executives and served as primary spokesperson for the company and its networks.
Howell also served as the SVP of communications & public affairs at Planet Green and TreeHugger.com, Discovery Communication’s global cross-platform initiative and channel devoted to the environment. Howell oversaw all communications strategies and media outreach for the initiative including the award-winning channel launch, development of partnership strategies, and multi-faceted communications and public affairs campaigns for programming and multi-platform assets.
Howell was previously senior vice president of communications in Discovery Communications’ U.S. networks division. In this role, her oversight included all communications and publicity efforts on behalf of the division’s cable networks, including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Fit TV, Military Channel, Discovery Home, and Discovery Kids Channel. Howell managed the U.S. division’s global talent management unit and communications for the company’s theatrical film unit (Discovery Films), ad sales & marketing, affiliates sales & marketing, the Discovery Channel global education partnership, and the Discovery Channel pro cycling team helmed by Lance Armstrong.
From 2000 to 2002, Howell was the vice president of communications for Discovery Networks, U.S., where she was charging with managing trade and business public relations efforts, local market publicity, and the awards and competition unit. Howell oversaw departmental operations, developing and directing the strategy and implementation of communications on behalf of Discovery’s emerging digital networks. Howell joined Discovery in 1999 as the director of communications for the Discovery Health Channel and Discoveryhealth.com, where she was a member of the launch team.
Prior to joining Discovery, Howell was a vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm Powell Tate. She also served in account executive positions with Ogilvy & Mather Public Affairs.
Howell was honored by CableFax as one of the 2013 and 2012 "Most Powerful Women in Cable". A 2008 Fellow of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, Howell was named "PR Person of the Year" by CableFax magazine in 2009 and was the recipient of WICT’s 2006 Touchstones of Leadership Communicator Award. She received a PR Week Award for "Consumer Launch of the Year "(Planet Green) and was on the magazine’s list of "Who to Watch" in 2008.
Howell is a graduate of Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology and a recent graduate of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (IPEC). She currently serves on the National Board of Directors for Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) as a director-at-large and also sits on the organization’s foundation board. For over ten years, she served on the executive committee and board of the Association of Cable Communicators (ACC) as well as on the NCTA Public Affairs Committee. She also served on the Washington-Baltimore chapter board of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) where she is a member. She is a member of the Television Publicity Executive Committee (TPEC), the PR executive committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) and the National Press Club. She is involved on many personal committees and volunteer groups in metropolitan Washington, D.C. and Kensington, Maryland where she resides with her husband and two sons.
