Stories
Stories
Cable Gal
Catherine Eubanks McCollough (MBA '91) was traveling more than one hundred thousand miles a year as an executive for Scientific-Atlanta when her young son asked her if she and the woman who worked as his full-time nanny could trade places. For McCollough, a rising star in cable and telecom equipment sales — a field where few women are found — it was a wake-up call.
"My son basically said, 'You're not doing your job,'" McCollough told the Roanoke Times (September 23, 2001) in a lengthy article that examined the management style and skills of McCollough, a former winner of the "Woman to Watch Award" as selected by the trade group Women in Cable & Communications.
To spend more time being a mom than a road warrior, in 2000 McCollough took a job as vice president and general manager of Cox Communications in Roanoke, Virginia, and reduced the nanny's role to part-time. The old fires still burn, however, even though she is profoundly at peace. "I'm very tough, I'm very competitive," declared McCollough, who cites her strong Christian beliefs and church work as affording her a deep inner calm.
In her new role at Cox, McCollough supervises a staff of about 150 employees. She particularly likes to join the company's cable installers on their rounds, in order to get their feedback and to hear from customers firsthand. "My job is to facilitate, to keep things moving in the right direction," McCollough observed. The ultimate goal is to create an enjoyable workplace for all, she said, adding, "we've come close to achieving that."
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