Helen Dimsdale is Director of Public Affairs, for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). As part of NCTA’s recent move to Capitol Hill, she is working with a team of NCTA staff to launch key elements of NCTA’s “Cable Multimedia Center”, including a state of the art high definition theater, a technology exhibit named cableINNOVATES, a small studio with editing suite and Web casting capabilities. Other responsibilities include managing public relations efforts for various industry initiatives, monitoring both external and internal industry campaigns and advocacy efforts on industry diversity-based initiatives.
Helen got her start in cable in 1995, by joining NCTA’s newly formed Program Network Policy department which covered regulatory proceedings on parental controls, V-chip technology, HDTV, closed captioning and multicast must-carry requirements on behalf of the programmers. Prior to her employment at NCTA, Dimsdale worked in the Government Relations and Public Affairs department, for the U.S. Telecomm Association (USTA), a Washington-based trade association representing the Bell Operating Companies (BOC) and local exchange carriers (LEC).
Prior to USTA, she served as conference planning manager and catering director for the Conference Center Division of Marriott Management Services working at several DC-based premiere properties. In 1981, Dimsdale began her career as a staff assistant for the late U.S. House of Representative Frank Annunzio of Illinois.
Dimsdale has filled many leadership positions at the cable industry organizations including serving as the 2004 president of the Washington/Baltimore Chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), the cable television industry’s leading advocacy organization for women in the communications industry. She received the 2005 Emerging Leader Award from WICT Washington/Baltimore Chapter and the 2003, 2004 and 2006 WICT National Pinnacle Award. In December 2006, Helen was recognized by Cable Positive, the industry’s AIDS action organization that raises awareness, education, prevention and care while striving to end the stigma, as one of its top 25 industry leaders in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS.
Outside the office, Helen was recently a guest DJ on WARW FM – 94.7, a popular classic rock station in Washington, DC. The session turned into an audition when she was offered a weekend DJ position on the station. She now spends her weekends working for WTGB – FM 94.7 The Globe, a CBS radio affiliate.
A native of Washington, D.C., Dimsdale holds a B.S. degree in food science from the University of Maryland and a M.S. degree in information and telecommunications systems management from Capitol College in Laurel, MD. She resides in Kensington, Maryland with her daughter.
