History & Impact

The WICT Network is a global organization whose mission is to create women leaders who transform our industry.

In the spring of 1979, a small group of forward-thinking women saw a need for women to form connections and build relationships in an industry populated largely by men. Women in Cable was born out of informal gatherings held at industry events, and the original leaders built a non-profit organization from the ground up, dedicated to creating women leaders who transform the media industry. The strong foundation laid in those early years by the organization’s first Executive Director, Lucille Larkin, and its inaugural Board Chair, Gail Sermersheim, and the countless dedicated foremothers, allowed it to flourish, evolving into the global entity you see today.

Since our founding more than 40 years ago, we have grown to be the largest organization of our kind, and as the industry has evolved, so too has WICT. No longer are member companies simply cable operators and content creators; they are multi-faceted media, entertainment and technology entities, providing a wide range of services to businesses and consumers. In 2021, WICT relaunched its brand as “The WICT Network,” a name that is more inclusive of our industry’s many member companies and multi facets.

Today, The WICT Network has grown to encompass more than 10,000 members spanning 24 chapters worldwide, including the U.K., Latin America and Europe.

As an organization dedicated to improving gender diversity in the workplace, we have a responsibility to our members, stakeholders and the industry at large, to be at the forefront of change. This is a dialogue The WICT Network has been touting for many years because the data speaks for itself. Women in business mean business.

We know empirically that companies with strong gender diversity financially outperform those without. The WICT Network supports the industry by commissioning original gender diversity research, convening executive education programs, and providing a strong B2B membership network to help build a more robust pipeline of talented women. By investing in women, we not only ensure they have the tools to embark on a career in the industry, we also provide vital resources throughout every step of their career journeys.