Italia Commisso Weinand is one the most prominent female executives in the cable industry. Since joining Mediacom Communications as its 3rd employee, Italia has worked alongside her brother and fellow Hall of Famer, Rocco B. Commisso, to build Mediacom into the nation’s fifth cable operator in the US serving more than 1.4 million customers primarily in the Midwest and Southeast.
As the company embarked on a series of major acquisitions, Italia’s insight and experience proved to be invaluable. She established the company’s early Operations, Human Resources, Marketing and Programming policies. Understanding Mediacom needed to attract and retain an employee workforce of dedicated and proficient individuals, she developed a family-oriented, corporate culture based on fairness, diversity and career growth. It is a policy that has paid off, as Mediacom has grown from less than 20 employees in 1996 to over 4,600 today.
Her reputation as a groundbreaker and risk-taker is an inspiration to those who work with her. Likewise, her business acumen has contributed to Mediacom delivering on its promise to close the digital divide by providing broadband-based video, data and voice services to America’s smaller cities and towns. As a leader on programming issues and a former board member of NCTC, she has fought for economic fairness while building a Mediacom video brand comparable to the largest MSOs.
Italia began her 41-year cable career at Time Warner in New York City, and worked for Comcast immediately prior to becoming a founding member of Mediacom. Throughout her professional life, she has committed herself to numerous charitable causes including Habitat for Humanity, Hope Through Care, Lake Drive School of the Deaf and the Knights of Columbus. A Cable TV Pioneer, she was honored as a Wonder Woman by Multichannel News and WICT in 2004. She serves on the board of The Cable Center, The Emma Bowen Foundation and Mediacom Communications Corporation, and is a past board member of Cable Positive and WICT. For the past consecutive ten years, Italia has been named one of the most powerful women in cable. Italia attended Elizabeth Seton College and Fordham University and WICT’s Senior Executive Summit at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She has been married to George Weinand for 28 years and is the mother of a son, John, two stepsons, William and Michael and three step grandchildren.
