Ilia Calderon And Leon Krauze Announced As Co-Hosts For The 2014 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast

LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) today announced Ilia Calderon, co-anchor, "Noticiero Univision Edicion Nocturna," and Leon Krauze, anchor of Fusion's "Open Source with Leon Krauze" as host of the NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast.  Additionally, Italia Commisso Weinand, executive vice president of Programming and Human Resources, Mediacom Communications Corporation will serve as honorary chair.  Held in conjunction with the Cable Show, the breakfast is scheduled for Thursday, May 1, 2014 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. PT at the Los Angeles Convention Center's Concourse Hall.

The NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast features the presentation of the Next Generation Leaders Awards honoring emerging executives for their professional acumen and achievements in fostering multi-ethnic diversity and inclusion within the communications industry.  Presented in partnership with Multichannel News, the awards honor executives of color age 45 and under in four categories: Cable MSO, Cable Programmer, Technology Company or Discipline and Creative Discipline.  Recipients of the 2014 Next Generation Leaders Awards include Sean Coar, group vice president, Strategy and Business Decisions, Media, Time Warner Cable (MSO); Isaac Lee, CEO, Fusion and President, Univision News (Programmer); Nodir Nazarov, vice president, IP Network Technology, Cablevision Systems Corporation (Technology Company or Discipline); and Shana C. Waterman, senior vice president, Event Series Development & Production, FOX Broadcasting Company (Creative Discipline).  

"We are delighted to have the continued support of our industry partners for this flagship initiative," said Alicin Williamson, interim president of NAMIC and principal, Raben Group.  "It is an honor to be joined by these esteemed diversity champions as we celebrate the accomplishments of this year's Next Generation Leaders." 

As anchor of Fusion's "Open Source with Leon Krauze," airing live from Los Angeles every Thursday at 10:00 p.m. ET, Krauze covers a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from politics, the war on drugs and soccer to celebrities, digital media and entertainment news.  For almost twenty years, he has focused on American politics, having covered the last four election cycles for various Hispanic media outlets, both in the United States and Mexico.  In 2005, Krauze published La Casa Dividida, an account of the first five years of the Bush presidency. His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, El Pais, Letras Libres, among many others.  Krause is also the main anchor at Univision's Los Angeles station KMEX where he hosts one of the nation's highest rated local news casts regardless of language. 

An Emmy-winning journalist, Ilia was named co-anchor of "Noticiero Univision Edicion Nocturna" in 2011.  Previously, Calderon co-anchored Univision's "Primer Impacto" (First Impact), Hispanic America's No. 1 daily newsmagazine and the weekend edition, "Primer Impacto Fin de Semana." Before joining Univision, Calderon was co-host of the weekday morning program "Cada Dia con Maria Antonieta Collins" (Every Day with Maria Antonieta Collins).  Additionally, she co-anchored Telemundo's weekend national newscast covering major events including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq war, the capture of Saddam Hussein, and Hurricane Katrina. Calderon was also news anchor for the international cable network Telemundo Internacional, and has interviewed numerous prominent politicians and celebrities, among them former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, and world-famous singer/songwriter Shakira.

Named to CableFAX The Magazine's "Most Powerful Women in Cable" for the past seven years, Weinand's career trajectory encompasses 37 years of cable industry experience.  Serving in her current role of executive vice president of Programming and Human Resources since May 2012, Weinand has received many commendations such as the distinction of Cable TV Pioneer and being named a Wonder Woman by Multichannel News.  Weinand's tenure with Mediacom Communications encompasses prior roles as senior vice president of Programming and Human Resources and vice president of Operations.  Before joining Mediacom Communications Corporation, Weinand held management positions at Comcast Corporation, Tele-Communications, Inc., Time Mirror Cable and Time Warner, Inc. 

Event Sponsors of the 2014 NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast include the NCTA, Univision, Charter Communications, Mediacom, Al Jazeera America, The Weather Channel, NBCUniversal, NCC Media, Crown Media Family Networks, Revolt TV, Fox Audience Strategy, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom.

For more information regarding the NAMIC Annual Awards Breakfast and the Next Generation Leaders Awards including questions pertaining to event sponsorship and ticket/table purchases, contact Sandra Girado, senior director of Meetings and Events, at NAMIC National, 212-594-5985. Online registration can be accessed at http://www.namic.com.

ABOUT NAMIC

NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC comprises 2,200 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve. For more information, please visit www.namic.com and stay connected to NAMIC on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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