Louis Carr, President of Media Sales, at Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks, is one of the most influential and prominent African Americans in both media and marketing industries. He has been responsible for more advertising dollars targeted towards the African-American consumer markets, than any other professional or company. In 2016, he celebrated his 30^th year anniversary with BET. In the same year, he earned the Diversity Award from the Hyatt Corporation and another Lifetime Achievement Award from the Patricia Martin Legacy celebration honoring his work around diversity from both personal and professional standpoints. Carr has also been listed on NAMIC’s Most Influential African Americans list in the cable industry several times.

Utilizing his B.A. in Journalism from Drake University, Louis Carr has become a compelling author, writing two books titled Dirty Little Secrets and The Little Black Book: Daily Motivations for Business and Personal Growth. His engaging books share anecdotes from his captivating success story. These nuggets of wisdom were written with the intent of paying it forward and telling his individual story. Throughout childhood and along his career path, Carr acknowledges the encouragement and help received by others who deemed him “special” even before he believed it himself. Undoubtedly, Carr openly lays out his own roadmap to greatness with sure fire tips to aid students, business professionals and those in pursuit of self-purpose to get to the next level. He most recently became a TEDx Speaker, emphasizing “The Necessity of Being Uncomfortable”.

He has served on boards of the Ad Council; International Radio and Television Society (IRTS); American Advertising Federation (AAF); and the Video Advertising Board (VAB), formerly the CAB. He currently serves on the board of the Boys Hope Girls Hope and the United States Track and Field Foundation.

He is a dedicated mentor and benevolent philanthropist. Devoted to diversity, Mr. Carr has hired more people of color than any other executive or company within the media industry. Additionally, for more than fourteen years, the Louis Carr Internship Foundation (LCIF) has dedicated its efforts to improve diversity in corporate America. By placing undergraduate students of color in paid summer internships, Louis further demonstrates his commitment to helping others gain exposure and experience.

Constance M. Orlando is an award-winning media executive recently named Executive Vice President of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc.. A pop culture visionary, Ms. Orlando oversees all genres of original programming, including scripted offerings “The Quad,” “Being Mary Jane,” and specials including, Black Girls Rock! and ratings juggernaut BET Awards. Ms. Orlando also leads the BET News department, overseeing critically acclaimed specials on Ferguson and Baltimore. She also ushered BET into the documentary space with BET Truth Series, which in its inaugural year produced award-winning projects Katrina 10 Years Later, Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ and Stay Woke.

Ms. Orlando previous roles with BET include Senior Vice President of Specials, Music Programming and News, and VP of Original Programming. Ms. Orlando was part of the network’s largest expansion into original programming in its history. Her ability to lead, inspire and create hits resulted in a list of accomplishments including BET Presents: Love & Happiness, an Obama Celebration, Sunday Best, TD Jakes Presents: Mind, Body, & Soul, The Steve Harvey Project, Monica: Still Standing and scripted series The Game, which scored record-breaking ratings.

Ms. Orlando is Executive Producer of all tentpole events, including the BET Awards, the #1 program in cable television history among AA viewers and a top 10 awards show on television amongst total viewers. 

Prior to joining BET Networks, the Syracuse University graduate ran her own full service production company, CMO Productions, Inc. While running CMO, Orlando served as Executive Producer of award-winning director Hype Williams’ Big Dog Films. Among CMO’s crowning triumphs was a partnership with music icon and businessman Jay-Z to produce the first of its kind, direct-to-video movie soundtrack The Streets Is Watching.

Outside of work, Orlando is passionate about advocating for and providing support to women and children in need, so in 1998 she launched a non-profit foundation, ‘Just The Girls’. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Clark Atlanta University’s TV department as the Programming Committee Chair. Orlando accolades include NAMIC’s “Top 40 Under 40”. Her work has earned her nine NAACP Image Awards (“The Mo’Nique Show” 2010, “Sunday Best” 2011, “Black Girls Rock!” 2012/2013/2014/2016, “The Game” 2012, "Ali: The People’s Champ" 2015, and Love & Happiness: an Obama celebration 2016), and five NAMIC Vision Awards (“Black Girls Rock!”).

Kimberly Paige is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of general management, strategy, innovation, and brand marketing experience with a proven track record of building billion-dollar Fortune 500 brands.

Paige is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for BET Networks.  Paige is responsible for managing and implementing brand strategy across all platforms, including the BET and BET Her linear networks, BET+, BET Digital, BET Social and BET Experience.  Paige also leads BET’s awarding-winning Brand Creative Team, best-in-class Consumer Insights & Analytics Team and all Media Planning.   In addition, she stewards BET’s Live Events business. Paige reports to Scott Mills, President of BET Networks.

Most recently, Paige was the Chief Operating and Brand-Building Officer at Sundial Brands, a leading skincare and haircare manufacturer renowned for its innovative use of high-quality, culturally authentic natural ingredients, and maker of SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture, and nyakio™. Paige managed the overall strategic direction of the company and led the business planning for continued growth, including the existing product portfolio, new and innovative products and line extensions, and built the business in existing and new channels. She was responsible for operations, which included end-to-end supply chain, marketing and sales, and continually assessed the organization and infrastructure for company growth.

She joined Sundial from her previous role as Chief Marketing Officer of Coty, Inc. where she stewarded the repositioning of several flagship brands.

Prior to Coty, Paige spent 17 years at The Coca Cola Company where she led several businesses to unparalleled revenue growth while driving brand loyalty for brands including Sprite, Fanta, SmartWater and more. In addition to multiple brand leadership roles, she was Vice President & CMO of Coca-Cola’s Ventures & Emerging Brands, where she led innovation and marketing support for emerging and recently acquired brands. Prior to that, Paige co-founded and was President of Kickoff Marketing, a strategic planning and brand consulting firm where she drove profitable growth and assessed new business venture opportunities for a variety of consumer brands and non-profit organizations. Paige began her career at Procter and Gamble, where she worked in brand management and drove results for the largest division of the company (formerly Package Soap and Detergent).

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in nearly 85 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET Networks around the globe.

Contact:

Luis Defrank

Luis.defrank@bet.net

212-205-3156