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6 Comcast executives who will divvy up David Cohen’s wide-ranging portfolio

David Cohen is stepping away from daily operations at Comcast. Here are the executives who will take on his portfolio.

The Comcast Technology Center, with a height of 1,121 feet.
The Comcast Technology Center, with a height of 1,121 feet.Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

In announcing that David L. Cohen would step away from daily operations at Comcast Corp. with the new year, CEO Brian Roberts identified several executives who will divide up the executive’s wide-ranging responsibilities.

Among them are:

Michael J. Cavanagh

Cavanagh is Comcast’s chief financial officer. He joined Comcast in 2015 after 20 years in the financial services industry, including serving as co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s corporate and investment bank and CFO of JPMorgan Chase. He is a graduate of Yale University, has a law degree from the University of Chicago, and is a member of the committee that oversees Yale’s $29 billion endowment. According to his corporate profile, his responsibilities at Comcast include overseeing all financial functions, corporate development, and strategic planning.

As outlined by Roberts, Cavanagh will continue to oversee legal matters while taking additional responsibility in corporate administration.

Karen Dougherty Buchholz

Buchholz, senior vice president of administration, oversaw the development of Comcast’s new $1.5 Technology Center in Center City and $750 million headquarters tower across the street. Her responsibilities include corporate real estate, facilities, aviation, diversity, political affairs, corporate services, business continuity, travel, security, and sustainability. Buchholz has a political background that includes serving as president of the committee that brought the 2000 Republican Convention to Philadelphia, working on then-State Treasurer Barbara Hafer’s unsuccessful 1990 gubernatorial campaign, and serving as a special assistant to the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz. A 1988 graduate of Dickinson College, Buchholz was a sales executive for Comcast-Spectacor from 1993 to 1997, developing corporate sponsorships for what is now the Wells Fargo Center. Buchholz also has a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Buchholz’s new responsibilities include becoming Comcast’s chief diversity officer and co-chair of the Comcast NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Advisory Council. She also will oversee local media development and report to Cavanagh as well as Roberts in the area of corporate administration, including facilities, campus events, and security.

Thomas J. Reid

Reid is a newcomer to Comcast, joining the company in April as chief legal officer, overseeing legal, corporate governance, and strategic intellectual property operations. Before that he had a long career at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, an international law firm that worked with Comcast in its acquisition of Sky, a British telecommunications company, in 2018. Before joining Comcast, Reid had been the law firm’s chairman and managing partner since 2011. He holds law degrees from Edinburgh University and Columbia University.

» READ MORE: Comcast wins Sky with $40B bid, launching itself globally

Comcast’s government and regulatory affairs and political affairs sections will now report to Reid, who reports to Roberts.

Adam Miller

Miller has been executive vice president of NBCUniversal, since 2012, overseeing the Comcast-owned media conglomerate’s communications, human resources, labor relations, corporate events, global booking, corporate social responsibility, and community relations. Before joining NBCUniversal, Miller was president for 17 years of the Abernathy MacGregor Group, a New York-based strategic communications firm that deals with matters that include reputation and crisis management, general corporate communications, and investor and public relations. Comcast was one of the company’s clients. Miller is a graduate of Hamilton College in New York state.

Miller will now also oversee community impact and corporate social responsibility at both Comcast and NBCUniversal, and take on some responsibility for Internet Essentials, a program that provides high-speed internet connections to low-income families.

Kimberly D. Harris

Harris has dual roles at Comcast and NBCUniversal. At Comcast, she is executive vice president overseeing international government and regulatory affairs. As general counsel for NBCUniversal, Harris is responsible for legal operations across all divisions. She reports to both Roberts and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. Like Reid, she worked for Davis Polk & Wardwell before joining NBCUniversal in 2013. Prior to that, she held several legal posts in the Obama administration, including principal deputy counsel and deputy assistant to the president in the White House Counsel’s Office, and senior counsel in the Justice Department’s criminal division. Harris is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a law degree from Yale.

Harris will continue to oversee international government and regulatory affairs at Comcast.

D’Arcy Rudnay

Rudnay has been with Comcast since 2003 and is its chief communications officer, credited with crafting the company’s message and branding as it shifted from a cable TV provider to a media and tech conglomerate. As her company profile describes it, Rudnay “oversees all global communications for the company’s financial reporting, crisis management, cyber security, digital and social media, product launches, Olympic sponsorship activities, corporate branding and image advertising, federal and regulatory activities, foundation and community sponsorship programs, employee relations, and diversity and inclusion.” Before Comcast, Rudnay worked in communications for, among others, Lincoln Financial Group, Advanta Corp., and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Rudnay is a graduate of Trinity College Washington and holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rudnay will continue to oversee corporate communications, reporting to Roberts.

» READ MORE: Lawyer, corporate mover, political power broker: A look at David L. Cohen’s career