Nick Cannon 29
Chairman of TeenNick
Nickelodeon New York
Cannon is America’s youngest television executive, charged with guiding the future of the brand from green-lighting programming to promoting and boosting ad revenues. Among his successful programming credits is the network’s HALO Awards, for which he’s the creator and talent. The show outperformed the network’s average ratings among teens (12—17) by more than 27% and total viewers by 36% in its time slot. The self-professed “Entrepre-tainer†simultaneously runs his own entertainment company and hosts a morning radio show on CBS Radio and NBC’s hit reality show America’s Got Talent.
Kelli Coleman 25
Vice President, Business Development
GlobalHue New York
Coleman is an integral part of the day-to-day operations of the multicultural ad firm where she leads the new business team and serves as president of Cutting Edge Productions, a broadcast production house under its corporate umbrella. Coleman manages across key areas, including new business, production, public relations, and The Coleman Entrepreneurial Scholarship.
Selena & Khary Cuffe 34/31
CEO/CFO
Heritage Link Brands L.L.C. Los Angeles
The 2009 BE Next Company of the Year, Heritage Link Brands has demonstrated explosive growth (2009 revenues: $1.15 million) while enabling African vintners to market their wines globally. The Cuffes have struck lucrative deals with United and American Airlines to serve South African wines on flights. In fact, the AA deal made their wine, One World, the first such fair-trade wine to be served on an airline in the U.S.
Rosalyn Durant 34
VP/General Manager
ESPNU Bristol, CT
As the youngest black VP/GM at ESPN, Durant currently oversees ESPNU, a 24-hour college-themed program channel with exclusive live event coverage. Since joining the network in 2008, Durant has helped grow viewership from about 20 million households to more than 72 million nationwide and secured distribution agreements with Charter, Comcast, Direct TV, DISH Network, Mediacom, Time Warner, Verizon FIOS TV, and AT&T U-verse.