How I Got Here: Joe Leonard
Joe Leonard, SVP, Marketing & Creative Strategy, Charter
After graduating from Fairfield University with a degree in marketing, Joe Leonard’s nearly four-decade professional journey began as an auditor for a bank on Wall Street. He knew it wasn’t what he wanted to do long term. So, he quit two years later, but didn’t have anything else lined up—except the answer to “What do you want to do?”
“’Well, I want to do marketing for an entertainment company,’” Leonard recalled to CFX. “It’s almost when those words came out of my mouth that the universe started to turn.”
The universe did indeed turn, creating what blossomed into a 36-year career in media and entertainment that’ll come to a close when Leonard retires at the end of this month. Ironically, his first job after that was at Disney Channel’s New York offices as a regional auditor, but he stepped into a sales position 1.5 years later before becoming one of the original seven employees of History Channel when he was hired by A+E. After stops at Cablevision and MuchMusic USA, he became VP, Affiliate Marketing for AMC Networks. He was then hired by John Hargis to return to Cablevision in 2001 to join its corporate ranks. Hargis, who had left Cablevision to take the same CMO role at Charter, once again hired Leonard to come to Charter in 2013, which would ultimately be the final stop in Leonard’s career.
“In this job, I’ve never been bored. There’s always something new to learn. It never seems to be the same thing year after year,” Leonard said. “There’s always somebody or something pushing the envelope. There’s a lot of competition.”
Passion is what brought Leonard into the industry, and it’s what he thinks is the key to staying ahead of the game when mass changes occur. “When I got started in the business, it was really about programming and about television, and that was important to people,” Leonard said. “But now, the internet, making phone calls and mobile service—these are probably the most important things to people.”
Leonard will miss the industry events and interaction with colleagues. He said he’s never had an extended amount of time off since he graduated college, and he doesn’t have a set plan for what he’ll do next. Leonard does know, however, that he’ll continue playing guitar in a band and get more involved in philanthropic work. He wants to help create more opportunities for those on the autism spectrum entering young adulthood by finding opportunities in the workforce and providing social activities.
“I have to think a lot and think long and hard about what my next act is going to be,” he said.
